A razorfish of silty flats, paler and slighter than the peacock, with the first few dorsal rays separated from the rest of the fin and raised like fingers - which is where the name comes from.
It uses the same escape as every razorfish: a head-first dive into the bottom, and a short swim through the sediment before it stops. The blade-thin body and the vertical face are the reason it works, and on silt it is even more effective than on clean sand, because the cloud it raises hides the exit.
It lives deeper than its relative, usually below five meters and down to sixty, on the kind of featureless bottom divers cross rather than explore. Small crustaceans and worms are the diet, sorted out of the sediment.
Twenty-five centimeters (10 in). The two razorfish here are separated by habitat as much as by markings: peacock on clean coarse sand near reef, this one on the silty flats beyond.
The genus. Iniistius Gill 1862 - inion (back of head) + istius (sail). ETYFish
The species. Iniistius pentadactylus (Linnaeus 1758) - penta- (five) + dactylus (fingered). ETYFish
- blade-shaped body, pale with a red-brown blotch behind the pectoral fin
- first dorsal rays separated and often held up like fingers
- steep forehead with a straight profile
- length up to 25 cm
Why it's threatened
There are no major threats known for this species, although it is collected for the aquarium trade.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
