Comet

About this species

The comet or marine betta is a species of reef-associated tropical marine fish in the longfin family Plesiopidae, most commonly found between 3 and 50 m deep. It is native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean. It can reach a maximum length of 20 cm.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Comet (fish)”, 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: 31 records
February: 13 records
March: 29 records
April: 35 records
May: 29 records
June: 16 records
July: 17 records
August: 17 records
September: 35 records
October: 16 records
November: 32 records
December: 31 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–28 m · Deepest record: 57.5 m

0–10 m: 8 records
10–20 m: 13 records
20–30 m: 6 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 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: 8 records
26–28 °C: 20 records
28–30 °C: 32 records
30–32 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pierre Pericard, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Gregor Bailar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tom Heijnen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Comet, comet, Marine Betta

Names in 6 more languages

German: Mirakelfisch
Spanish: Pez cometa de aletas grandes
French: Cométe à Grandes Nageoires, Comète à grandes nageoires, Poisson-comète à grandes nageoires
Japanese: Shimofuri-tanabata-uo, Shimofuritanabatauo, シモフリタナバタウオ
Thai: ปลากัดทะเล, ปลาครีบยาวจุดขาว
Simplified Chinese: 孔雀七夕魚, 海水鬥魚, 珍珠麗七夕魚, 珍珠麗七夕魚(麗鮗、瑰麗七夕魚）, 珍珠麗鮗, 瑰麗七夕魚

Other scientific names: Barrosia barrosi, Callopresiops altivelis, Plesiops altivelis

Similar species

Crimsontip longfin
Plesiops coeruleolineatus
Olive Rockfish
Acanthoclinus fuscus
Blue Assessor
Assessor macneilli
New Zealand Rockfish
Acanthoclinus littoreus
Stout Rockfish
Acanthoclinus marilynae
Little rockfish
Acanthoclinus rua

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).
174 open-data records from 1903 to 2016.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.