---
title: Crown Squirrellfish (Sargocentron diadema)
scientific_name: Sargocentron diadema
common_name: Crown Squirrellfish
taxon: Squirrelfishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2023-12-26T23:52:28.034Z
updated: 2026-08-22T09:13:37.724Z
tags: Crown Squirrellfish, Sargocentron diadema, Squirrelfishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/squirrelfishes/crown-squirrellfish
---

# Crown Squirrellfish (*Sargocentron diadema*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Squirrelfishes (*Holocentrinae*)
- **Size:** up to 17 cm
- **Depth:** 1-60 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Caves and overhangs by day, open sand and rubble at night
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Gonochoric
- **Hazard:** Venomous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- red body ruled with clean white horizontal stripes
- tall spiny dorsal fin marked with a dark red band and white tips
- very large eye; hangs under a ledge facing out
- length up to 17 cm

Red, ruled with white stripes, with an eye far too big for a fish of 17 cm (7 in) and a tall spiny dorsal fin banded dark red. By day it hangs under a ledge facing out, in a group, and a torch beam finds a row of them looking back.

The eye and the color are one adaptation. Squirrelfishes hunt after dark on open sand, and the retina is built for it - rod-dense, backed by a reflective layer that gives light a second pass. Red is the first color to disappear with depth, so a red fish in the dark is effectively invisible, and the same animal that looks garish under a torch is unlit and unseen the rest of the night.

They talk. Muscles attached to the swim bladder produce grunts and staccato clicks used in disputes and alarm, and a cave full of squirrelfish at dusk is audible from outside it.

The cheek spine carries venom, which is unusual in the family and worth knowing: it is a defensive weapon aimed at whatever grabs the fish, and a sting from one is painful out of proportion to the size of the animal.

## Also known as

- **English:** crown squirrelfish, Crowned Squirrel-fish, Crowned Squirrelfish
- **Hebrew:** ברקן הנזר
- **French:** Écureuil de Mer, Marignan Lion-parasol, Poisson-écureuil diadème
- **Italian:** Pesce scoiattolo coronato
- **German:** Diademhusar
- **Portuguese:** Peixe-esquilo-coroado
- **Czech:** pruhatec královský
- **Japanese:** ニジエビス, Nijiebisu
- **Chinese:** 瀾公妾, 金鱗甲, 鐵甲兵
- **Russian:** Адиорикс-диадема
- **CA:** Peix esquirol coronat
- **DA:** Kroneegernfisk
- **MSA:** Lolong bara
- **TAH:** 'araoe 'ute'ute

## Scientific synonyms

- *Adioryx diadema* (Lacepède, 1802)
- *Holocentre diadème* Commerson & Lacepède, 1801
- *Holocentrum diadema* Lacepède, 1802
- *Holocentrus diadema* Lacepède, 1802
- *Perca pulchella* Bennett, 1827
- *Sargocentrum diadema* (Lacepède, 1802)

## Range

Comoros, Federal Republic of Somalia, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania

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