Razorfish

About this species

Aeoliscus strigatus, also known as the razorfish, jointed razorfish, shrimpfish or coral shrimpfish, is a member of the family Centriscidae of the order Syngnathiformes. This species of fish has an adaptation of staying in a head-down tail-up position for hiding among sea urchin spines. The razorfish is primarily found in coastal waters in the Indo-West Pacific. The natural habitat of the razorfish includes beds of sea grass and coral reefs, where sea urchins are found.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Aeoliscus strigatus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 63 records
February: 53 records
March: 70 records
April: 93 records
May: 88 records
June: 47 records
July: 70 records
August: 59 records
September: 78 records
October: 81 records
November: 70 records
December: 77 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–22 m · Deepest record: 135 m

0–10 m: 53 records
10–20 m: 0 records
20–30 m: 4 records
30–40 m: 2 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 1 records
24–26 °C: 18 records
26–28 °C: 43 records
28–30 °C: 102 records

Photos

(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Tom Heijnen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Razorfish, Canif, Coral Shrimpfish, Hinged Shrimpfish, Jointed Razor-fish, Jointed Razorfish, razorfish, Shrimpfish

Names in 7 more languages

German: Gestreifter Schnepfenmesserfisch, Rasiermesserfisch
Spanish: Pez navaja articulado
Filipino: Isdang Laring-laring, Isdang Sikwan, Punyal
French: Poisson-couteau, Poisson-couteau strié
Japanese: Heko-ayu, Hekoayu, ヘコアユ
Thai: ปลาข้างใส, ปลาข้างใสแถบดำ, ปลาใบมีดโกน, ปลามีดโกน
Simplified Chinese: 刀片魚, 条纹虾鱼, 条纹鰕鱼, 條紋蝦魚, 條紋鰕魚, 玻璃魚, 甲香魚

Other scientific names: Amphisile strigata

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
437 open-data records from 1861 to 2018.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.