Harry Hotlips

Plectorhinchus gibbosus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth2–40 m
Water temperature15–30 °C
Best monthsFebruary, April, and October
How commonOccasional

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

About this species

Plectorhinchus gibbosus, commonly known as the Harry hotlips, black sweetlips, brown sweetlips, dusky sweetlips, gibbous sweetlips, hairy hotlips or humpback sweetlips, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the subfamily Plectorhinchinae, one of two subfamilies in the family Haemulidae, the grunts. It is native to the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Plectorhinchus gibbosus”, 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: 64 records
February: 107 records
March: 95 records
April: 114 records
May: 94 records
June: 103 records
July: 88 records
August: 87 records
September: 80 records
October: 131 records
November: 75 records
December: 78 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–40 m · Deepest record: 60.5 m

0–10 m: 30 records
10–20 m: 40 records
20–30 m: 25 records
30–40 m: 20 records
40–50 m: 6 records
50–60 m: 6 records
60–70 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: 3 records
22–24 °C: 42 records
24–26 °C: 38 records
26–28 °C: 52 records
28–30 °C: 96 records

Photos

(c) Catherine Holland, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Hayes Valentine, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) amfstocker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) luluchouette, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pavel Borodin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jim Moore (Maryland), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Harry Hotlips, black sweetlips, Brown Sweetlips, Silver Grunt, Silver Javelin

Names in 2 more languages

Japanese: クロコショウダイ
Simplified Chinese: 打鐵婆, 駝背石鱸, 駝背胡椒鯛

Other scientific names: Diagramma crassispinum, Diagramma gibbosus, Gaterin niger, Holocentrus gibbosus, Plectorhinchus nigrus, Plectorhynchus crassispinus, Plectorhynchus gibbosus, Plectorhynchus gibbus, Plectorhynchus niger, Plectorhynchus nigrus, Plectorinchus gibbosus, Pristipoma nigrum, Pseudopristipoma nigra, Pseudopristipoma nigrum, Pseudopristipoma nigrus

Similar species

Clown Sweetlips
Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides
Blackstriped Sweetlips
Plectorhinchus lineatus
painted sweetlip
Plectorhinchus pica
Ribboned Sweetlip
Plectorhinchus polytaenia
Indian Ocean Oriental Sweetlips
Plectorhinchus vittatus
Two-stripe sweetlips
Plectorhinchus albovittatus

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).
567 open-data records from 1830 to 2023.
Species data updated October 30, 2026.

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