A fish shaped like an axe head, living on open sand where there is nothing to hide behind - and hiding anyway.
The body is compressed to a blade and the forehead is nearly vertical, which is a shape built for one purpose: at any sign of trouble the razorfish dives head-first into the sand and swims through it, sometimes for a meter or more, and surfaces somewhere else or simply does not surface at all. It sleeps buried too. The steep face is the leading edge.
Juveniles solve the same problem differently. They carry a long trailing filament off the first dorsal ray and drift over the bottom on their sides, rocking with the surge, doing an excellent impression of a dead leaf.
Adults hunt small crustaceans and molluscs, picking through sand grain by grain, and hold loose territories with one male over several females. Forty-two centimeters (17 in) at their largest. On a sand flat that looks empty, look for a shape that is too thin to be a fish - and be ready for it to vanish downwards.
The genus. Iniistius Gill 1862 - inion (back of head) + istius (sail). ETYFish
The species. Iniistius pavo (Valenciennes 1840) - peacock. ETYFish
- body flattened side to side like a blade, with a very steep blunt forehead
- pale gray or greenish with faint bars
- juveniles with a long trailing first dorsal ray, drifting like a leaf
- dives head-first into sand when approached
- length up to 42 cm
Why it's threatened
There are no major threats known for this species, although it is collected for the aquarium trade, and captured occationally in aritisanal fisheries.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
