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Silver sweeper

Pempheris oualensis

  • Fish
  • IUCN: Least concern
  • Usual depth4–21 m
  • Water temperature22–30 °C
  • Best monthsApril and May
  • How commonOccasional
All species

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

  • January: 28 records
  • February: 213 records
  • March: 222 records
  • April: 436 records
  • May: 266 records
  • June: 188 records
  • July: 126 records
  • August: 73 records
  • September: 89 records
  • October: 56 records
  • November: 41 records
  • December: 14 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–21 m · Deepest record: 93.9 m

  • 0–10 m: 615 records
  • 10–20 m: 670 records
  • 20–30 m: 203 records
  • 30–40 m: 4 records
  • 40–50 m: 0 records
  • 50–60 m: 0 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 22–30 °C

  • 20–22 °C: 1 records
  • 22–24 °C: 10 records
  • 24–26 °C: 51 records
  • 26–28 °C: 129 records
  • 28–30 °C: 613 records

Names and classification

English
Silver sweeper, Blackspot Sweeper, blacktip sweeper, Bronze Sweeper, Cave Sweeper, Copper Sweeper, Copper Sweeper, Silver sweeper, Keeled Sweeper, Oualan Bullseye, silver sweeper
Names in 3 more languages
French
Poisson-hachette argenté, Poisson-harpe
Japanese
Yumehatampo, ユメハタンポ
Simplified Chinese
三角仔, 刀片, 水果刀, 烏伊蘭擬金眼鯛, 皮刀, 解餌刀, 黑稍单鳍鱼, 黑稍單鰭魚

Other scientific names: Pempheris oulensis, Pempheris ovalensis, Pemphperis oualensis

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).
  • 2,060 open-data records from 1831 to 2023.
  • Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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