Natal knifejaw

About this species

Oplegnathus robinsoni, the Natal knifejaw, or also commonly known as Cuckoo Bass and Natalse Kraaibek, is a ray-finned fish that is endemic to the east coast of South Africa and Mozambique. They occur northwards from Transkei.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Oplegnathus robinsoni”, 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: 0 records
February: 4 records
March: 2 records
April: 15 records
May: 5 records
June: 6 records
July: 7 records
August: 7 records
September: 6 records
October: 7 records
November: 6 records
December: 1 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 11–29 m · Deepest record: 32 m

0–10 m: 1 records
10–20 m: 5 records
20–30 m: 4 records
30–40 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 19–26 °C

18–20 °C: 2 records
20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 7 records
24–26 °C: 17 records

Photos

(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Peter Southwood, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Rose Zappa, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) jeyre, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Mahomed Desai, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Peter Southwood, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Natal knifejaw, Natal knifefish

Names in 1 more languages

Spanish: Pez perico de KwaZulu-Natal

Other scientific names: Hoplegnathus robinsoni

Similar species

Barred knifejaw
Oplegnathus fasciatus
spotted beakfish
Oplegnathus punctatus
Conway
Oplegnathus woodwardi
Mozambique knifejaw
Oplegnathus peaolopesi

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).
51 open-data records from 1922 to 2005.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.