---
title: Blotcheye Soldierfish (Myripristis murdjan)
scientific_name: Myripristis murdjan
common_name: Blotcheye Soldierfish
taxon: Squirrelfishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-10-27T13:34:22.046Z
updated: 2026-08-22T09:08:35.366Z
tags: Blotcheye Soldierfish, Myripristis murdjan, Squirrelfishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/squirrelfishes/blotcheye-soldierfish
---

# Blotcheye Soldierfish (*Myripristis murdjan*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Squirrelfishes (*Holocentrinae*)
- **Size:** up to 27 cm
- **Depth:** 1-50 m
- **Diet:** Planktivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Caves and overhangs by day, open water above the reef at night
- **Reproduction:** Egg layer
- **Hazard:** Poisonous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- narrow dark bar across the upper edge of the gill opening
- outer part of the first dorsal fin red
- very large eye, silver-red body
- hanging in loose groups inside caves during the day
- up to 27 cm

This fish hears better than almost anything else on the reef, and you can see the reason from the outside if you know what you are looking at: the eye is enormous, but the real equipment is behind it.

The front of the swim bladder is drawn out into a pair of horns that run forward and press directly against the inner ear. A swim bladder is a gas-filled bag, so it vibrates when a sound wave passes; connect it to the ear and the fish stops sensing only particle motion and starts hearing pressure, the way we do. It extends the range upward by more than an octave and improves sensitivity by an order of magnitude.

Which matters because these fish talk. Soldierfish produce grunts, knocks and staccato bursts by contracting muscles against the swim bladder, and they use them in territorial disputes and alarm inside the caves where they spend the day. A cave full of them is not quiet; it is simply pitched and quiet enough that a diver's own bubbles drown it.

By day they hang in loose groups under overhangs, silver-red with a huge eye and a narrow dark bar across the top of the gill opening. At night they move out over the reef to feed on plankton.

## Also known as

- **English:** blotcheye soldierfish, Big-eye Soldierfish, pinecone soldierfish
- **Hebrew:** אדמון שחור-עין, ברקניים
- **French:** Marignan Pomme de zpin, Marignan pomme de pin, Cardinal Gros Ecailles
- **Italian:** Pesce scoiattolo cremisi, Pesce scoiattolo viola, Pesce soldato viola
- **German:** Weißsaum-Soldatenfisch
- **Spanish:** Candil carmesí, Candil piñon
- **Portuguese:** Soldado-pinhão
- **Dutch:** Rode Soldatenvis
- **Czech:** pruhatec okatý
- **Japanese:** ヨゴレマツカサ, Yogorematsukasa
- **Chinese:** 厚殼仔, 大目仔, 瀾公妾
- **Russian:** Солдат-мурджан
- **CA:** Peix soldat comú
- **DA:** Storøjet soldaterfisk
- **TH:** ปลาข้าวเม่าน้ำลึกขอบขาว

## Scientific synonyms

- *Holocentrum melanophrys* Swainson, 1839
- *Myripristis axillaris* Valenciennes, 1831
- *Myripristis bowditchae* Woods, 1953
- *Myripristis intermedius* Günther, 1874
- *Myripristis maculatus* Steindachner, 1861
- *Myripristis melanophrys* (Swainson, 1839)
- *Myripristis murdjan intermedia* Günther, 1874
- *Myripristis parvidens* Cuvier, 1829
- *Ostichthys murdjan* (Forsskål, 1775)
- *Ostichthys parvidens* (Cuvier, 1829)
- *Perca murdjan* (Forsskål, 1775)
- *Sciaena murdjan* Forsskål, 1775

## Range

Comoros, Djibouti, East Africa, Eritrea, Federal Republic of Somalia, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/squirrelfishes/blotcheye-soldierfish)*
*Updated: August 22, 2026*