A dark, arrow-shaped fish hanging motionless in the mouth of a cave, brown speckled with fine blue points, with a black spot ringed in pale at the base of the dorsal fin and a yellow smudge on the tail base. It holds position with the head tilted slightly down and moves only when it has to, which is why photographers find it before it finds them.
Soapfishes get their name from what happens when they are handled: the skin releases a bitter toxin called grammistin that foams in water like soap. It is a defense that works on predators the way a mouthful of detergent works on anyone, and it is the reason this family is left alone by fish that eat everything else its size.
Hunting happens after dark, on small fish and crustaceans taken from the water column at the cave mouth. By day the same individual is usually in the same crack, so a wall dive with a good hole in it will produce the same fish on repeat visits, which is unusual enough to be worth remembering.
- black spot at the base of the dorsal fin, ringed pale
- arrow-shaped head and body, dark brown speckled with fine blue dots
- yellow patch on the tail base
- hovers motionless in a cave, head slightly down
