argusfish

Scatophagus argus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth0–16 m
Water temperature20–30 °C
Best monthsJanuary
How commonOccasional

About this species

Scatophagus argus, the spotted scat, butterfish, mia mia, spotted butterfish, argusfish or tiger scat, is a species of fish in the scat family Scatophagidae. It occurs in two basic color morphs which are called green scat and ruby or red scat. This fish is generally distributed around the Indo-Pacific region, to Japan, New Guinea, and southeastern Australia. They live in coastal muddy areas, including estuaries, mangroves, harbours, and the lower courses of rivers. They are popular aquarium fish.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Scatophagus argus”, 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: 192 records
February: 11 records
March: 12 records
April: 19 records
May: 28 records
June: 20 records
July: 18 records
August: 31 records
September: 24 records
October: 22 records
November: 18 records
December: 24 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–16 m · Deepest record: 287 m

0–10 m: 79 records
10–20 m: 4 records
20–30 m: 3 records
30–40 m: 1 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: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 3 records
22–24 °C: 11 records
24–26 °C: 16 records
26–28 °C: 114 records
28–30 °C: 105 records

Names and classification

English: argusfish, Argus Fish, Butterfish, Butter Fish, Common Scat, Leopard Scat, Mia-mia, Mia Mia, scat, Spotted Butt, Spotted Butter-fish, Spotted Butterfish, Spotted Butter Fish, Spotted Scad, Spotted scat, Tiger Butterfish, Tiger Scat

Names in 7 more languages

German: Argusfisch, Gemeiner Argusfisch, Grüner Argusfisch
Spanish: Perca disco manchada, Pingo Manchado
French: Pavillon tacheté, Scatophage argenté
Japanese: Kurohoshimanjudai, Kurohoshimanjûdai, クロホシマンジュウダイ
Korean: 납작돔
Thai: ปลาตะกรับ
Simplified Chinese: 金錢魚, 金錢魚科, 金鼓

Other scientific names: Chaetodon argus, Chaetodon atromaculatus, Chaetodon pairatalis, Ephippus argus, Sargus maculatus, Scatophagus aetatevarians, Scatophagus bougainvillii, Scatophagus maculatus, Scatophagus ornatus, Scatophagus purpurascens, Scatophagus quadranus, Scatophagus quadratus

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).
1,481 open-data records from 1766 to 2024.

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