Lunartail grouper

About this species

The yellow-edged lyretail also known as the yellowedge coronation trout, fairy cod, lunar tail rock cod, lunartailed cod, lyre-tail cod or moontail seabass,, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the anthias and sea basses. It is found in the Indo-Pacific region and is more common than the congeneric white-edged lyretail.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Yellow-edged lyretail”, 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: 225 records
February: 583 records
March: 746 records
April: 658 records
May: 513 records
June: 397 records
July: 344 records
August: 328 records
September: 457 records
October: 457 records
November: 640 records
December: 361 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 7–24 m · Deepest record: 142 m

0–10 m: 474 records
10–20 m: 1,740 records
20–30 m: 537 records
30–40 m: 81 records
40–50 m: 14 records
50–60 m: 24 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 6 records
80–90 m: 17 records
90–100 m: 2 records
100–110 m: 1 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 1 records
24–26 °C: 145 records
26–28 °C: 377 records
28–30 °C: 254 records

Photos

(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Chris Chucholl, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rose Zappa, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Libby Keatley, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rui Ribeiro, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Lunartail grouper, Yellow-edged lyretail, Chameleon Grouper, Moontail seabass, Yellow-edged lyretail, Common Lyretail-cod, Common Lyre-tail Cod, Coronation Grouper, coronation trout, Fairy Cod, Lunar-tail Cod, Lunar-tailed Cod, Lunartailed Cod, Lunar-tailed Coral-trout, Lunar-tailed Grouper, lunartailed rockcod, Lunar-tailed Rock-cod, lunartail grouper, Lunar Tail Rock Cod, Lyre-tail Cod, Lyre Tail Coral Trout, Lyretail Grouper, moontail seabass, Yellowedge Coronation Trout, yellow-edged lyretail, Yellowedged Lyretail

Names in 6 more languages

German: Mondsichel-Juwelenbarsch
Spanish: Mero Luna Creciente
French: Criossant Queue Jaune, Croissant queue jaune, Croissant queue jaune, Druide, Grand queue, Rouge grand queue, Vera, Druide, Grand Queue, Loche Cameleon, Loche caméléon, Loche croissant queue jaune, Loche saumonée, Saumonée hirondelle, Mérou croissant de lune, Mérou croissant queue jaune, Rouge Grand Queue, Saumonee Hirondelle, Vielle Peinte Des Coraux, Vroissant
Japanese: Barahata, バラハタ
Thai: ปลากะรังหางวงเดือนธรรมดา
Simplified Chinese: 侧牙鲈, 側牙鱸, 星鱠, 朱鱠, 石斑

Other scientific names: Epinephelus louti, Labrus punctulatus, Perca louti, Serranus cernipedis, Serranus flavimarginatus, Serranus longipinna, Serranus louti, Serranus luti, Serranus melanotaenia, Serranus phaenistomus, Serranus punctulatus, Serranus roseus, Variola longipinna, Variola melanotaenia, Variola punctulatus

Similar species

White-edged lyretail
Variola albimarginata
Peacock grouper
Cephalopholis argus
Coral grouper
Cephalopholis miniata
Darkfin hind
Cephalopholis urodeta
Kelp Grouper
Epinephelus bruneus
Blacktip grouper
Epinephelus fasciatus

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).
5,248 open-data records from 1775 to 2023.
Species data updated October 31, 2026.