Grunt

About this species

The painted sweetlips, also known as the Australian slatey, blackall, bluey, grey sweetlips, moke, morwong, mother-in-law fish, painted blubber-lips, slate bream, slate sweetlips, smokey bream, thicklip or yellowdot sweetlips is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the family Haemulidae. It is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the Indo-West Pacific region.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Painted sweetlips”, 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: 280 records
February: 151 records
March: 191 records
April: 278 records
May: 236 records
June: 595 records
July: 370 records
August: 851 records
September: 1,635 records
October: 1,190 records
November: 652 records
December: 322 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 27–71 m · Deepest record: 275 m

0–10 m: 32 records
10–20 m: 96 records
20–30 m: 660 records
30–40 m: 1,162 records
40–50 m: 1,530 records
50–60 m: 852 records
60–70 m: 355 records
70–80 m: 258 records
80–90 m: 232 records
90–100 m: 39 records
100–110 m: 17 records
110+ m: 7 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–29 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 7 records
24–26 °C: 12 records
26–28 °C: 595 records
28–30 °C: 34 records

Photos

(c) jzfu, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jay Paroline, 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) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jay Paroline, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Grunt, Painted sweetlips, grunt, painted sweetlips

Names in 3 more languages

French: Diagramme peint, Loche casteix, Poisson grosse bouche, Regarde voiles, Diagramme voilier
Japanese: コロダイ
Simplified Chinese: 加志, 密點少棘胡椒鯛, 密點少棘胡椒鯛(胡椒鯛, 少棘石鱸, 雞仔魚

Other scientific names: Anthias diagramma, Chaetodon bilineatus, Diagramma balteatum, Diagramma blochii, Diagramma cinerascens, Diagramma microlepidotum, Diagramma picta, Diagramma pictus, Diagramma poecilopterum, Diagramma thunbergii, Holocentrus radjabau, Perca pertusa, Perca picta, Plectorhinchus pictus, Plectorhynchus pictus, Plectorrhinchus pictum, Spilotichthys pictus

Similar species

Clown Sweetlips
Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides
Harry Hotlips
Plectorhinchus gibbosus
Blackstriped Sweetlips
Plectorhinchus lineatus
painted sweetlip
Plectorhinchus pica
Ribboned Sweetlip
Plectorhinchus polytaenia
Indian Ocean Oriental Sweetlips
Plectorhinchus vittatus

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).
7,253 open-data records from 1910 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.