Crested Morwong

Goniistius vestitus

Fish
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth4–56 m
Water temperature19–26 °C
Best monthsJanuary, February, and December
How commonOccasional

All species

Photo credit: (c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 208 records
February: 175 records
March: 138 records
April: 162 records
May: 131 records
June: 120 records
July: 73 records
August: 111 records
September: 128 records
October: 140 records
November: 159 records
December: 186 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–56 m · Deepest record: 95 m

0–10 m: 3 records
10–20 m: 4 records
20–30 m: 9 records
30–40 m: 3 records
40–50 m: 2 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 19–26 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 16 records
22–24 °C: 38 records
24–26 °C: 4 records
26–28 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Rosie Steinberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Patrick Connolly, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rosie Steinberg, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Jobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rolf Lawrenz, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Crested Morwong, Eastern Crested Morwong, Eastern Magpie Morwong, Eastern Morwong, Magpie Morwong

Names in 3 more languages

German: Hauben-Morwong, Schmuckfingerflosser
French: Poisson-triangle
Simplified Chinese: 披鳞唇指䱵

Other scientific names: Cheilodactylus vestitus, Zeodrius vestitus

Similar species

Blacktip Morwong
Goniistius francisi
Crested Morwong
Goniistius gibbosus
Red-lip Morwong
Goniistius rubrolabiatus
Hawaiian Morwong
Goniistius vittatus
Morwong
Goniistius zonatus
Redlip Morwong
Goniistius zebra

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.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
100 open-data records from 1914 to 2022.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.

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