Jarbua terapon

Terapon jarbua

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth0–82 m
Water temperature18–30 °C
Best monthsApril, May, and September
How commonOccasional

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

About this species

Terapon jarbua, also known as the jarbua terapon, crescent grunter, crescent banded grunter, crescent perch, spiky trumpeter, thornfish or tiger perch, is a species of ray-finned fish, of the family Terapontidae, with a distribution in the Indo-Pacific. It is an important commercial species within its range and is sometimes found in the aquarium trade, where it is known as "target fish" for the pattern visible from above.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Terapon jarbua”, 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: 219 records
February: 186 records
March: 223 records
April: 376 records
May: 339 records
June: 235 records
July: 281 records
August: 305 records
September: 314 records
October: 297 records
November: 265 records
December: 246 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–82 m · Deepest record: 326 m

0–10 m: 228 records
10–20 m: 28 records
20–30 m: 20 records
30–40 m: 36 records
40–50 m: 21 records
50–60 m: 28 records
60–70 m: 21 records
70–80 m: 10 records
80–90 m: 15 records
90–100 m: 1 records
100–110 m: 6 records
110+ m: 23 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 18–30 °C

18–20 °C: 25 records
20–22 °C: 7 records
22–24 °C: 21 records
24–26 °C: 56 records
26–28 °C: 81 records
28–30 °C: 61 records

Photos

(c) natomik, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Attila Oláh, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) angryphyco, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Adelma Hills, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lachlan Copeland, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) JR Ferrer-Paris, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Jarbua terapon, Crescent-banded Grunter, Crescent Grunter, Crescent Perch, Cresent grunter, Jarbus Terapon, Spiky Trumpeter, target fish, Thornfish, tigerfish, Tiger Perch

Names in 9 more languages

German: Bogenstreifen-Tigerbarsch, Dreistreifen-Tigerbarsch, Grunzender Tigerbarsch
Spanish: Trompetero media luna
Filipino: Gagaong
French: Gendarme, Relégué, Violon, Relégué, Violon jarbua
Indonesian: Kerong-Kerong
Japanese: Kotohiki, コトヒキ
Korean: 살벤자리
Thai: ปลาข้างตะเภาลายโค้ง
Simplified Chinese: 細鱗鯻彎紋釘公花身雞魚, 花身雞魚, 花身鯻, 鯻科

Other scientific names: Coius trivittatus, Grammistes servus, Holocentrus jarbua, Holocentrus servus, Pterapon trivittatus, Sciaena jarbua, Stereolepis inoko, Terapon servus, Terapon timorensis, Therapon farna, Therapon jarboa, Therapon jarbua, Therapon servus

Similar species

Largescaled therapon
Terapon theraps
Small-scaled terapon
Terapon puta
Amniataba caudavittata
Helotes sexlineatus
Fourlined terapon
Pelates quadrilineatus
Silver grunter
Mesopristes argenteus

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).
4,393 open-data records from 1775 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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