A small pale fish with a head too big for it, hanging vertically above a hole in the sand with just the tail inside, and dropping backwards out of sight the moment anything comes close. It lives in this sea and nowhere else.
The burrow is masonry. A jawfish excavates a vertical shaft by carrying mouthfuls of sand out and spitting them away, then lines the entrance with selected pieces of rubble and shell to stop it collapsing, replacing them as they are dislodged. The same fish will occupy the same hole for months and rebuild the rim after every storm.
That outsized mouth has a second job. The male takes the entire clutch of eggs into his mouth after spawning and holds them there until they hatch, unable to feed for the duration, airing them by rolling the mass and spitting it out and back in. Watching that happen is the reason photographers lie in the sand for an hour in front of a hole.
Feeding is done from the doorway: the fish hovers a few centimeters up, snaps at passing zooplankton and drops home, and almost never crosses open sand.
The genus. Opistognathus Cuvier 1816 - opisthen (behind) + gnathus (jaw). ETYFish
The species. Opistognathus dipharus Smith-Vaniz 2010 - di- (two) + pharos (beacon). ETYFish
- hovers vertically above a hole in the sand, tail down, and drops in backwards
- big head and very large mouth on a small pale mottled body
- burrow entrance lined with pieces of coral rubble and shell
- length up to 5 cm
Why it's threatened
Threats to this species are unknown.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
