Arrow-headed Soapfish

About this species

Belonoperca is a genus of marine ray-finned fish, related to the groupers and included in the subfamily Epinephelinae, part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. They are found in the Indo-Pacific region.

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 19 records
February: 25 records
March: 25 records
April: 23 records
May: 29 records
June: 20 records
July: 13 records
August: 29 records
September: 23 records
October: 38 records
November: 51 records
December: 8 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 6–29 m · Deepest record: 62 m

0–10 m: 17 records
10–20 m: 33 records
20–30 m: 10 records
30–40 m: 4 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 15–30 °C

14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 5 records
26–28 °C: 56 records
28–30 °C: 46 records

Photos

(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Roger Rittmaster, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Arrow-headed Soapfish, Arrow-head soapfish, Arrowhead Soapfish, Chabanaud's soapfish, Chabanaud's Soapfish, Arrowhead soapfish

Names in 4 more languages

Spanish: Pez jabón punta de flecha
French: Poisson-savon de Chabanaud
Japanese: Yamisuzuki, ヤミスズキ
Simplified Chinese: 卡斑諾針鮨, 查氏鱵鱸, 箭頭肥皂魚

Other scientific names: Belonoperca chaubanaudi

Similar species

Barred soapfish
Diploprion bifasciatus

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).
252 open-data records from 1909 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.