Striped Oriental Sweetlips fish a Black-stripe Surgeonfish and a Moorish Idol on a coral reef in the Maldives
The Indian Ocean Oriental sweetlips, Plectorhinchus vittatus, is a species of grunt native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. This species can be found on both coral and rock reefs at depths from 2 to 25 m The Oriental sweetlips, also known as Oriental Dogfish, Lined Sweetlips or Dogfish Orientalis is native to the Indo-Pacific where it can be found at depths of 5 to 80 feet. Juveniles are found in clear sheltered areas and adults are found in clear lagoons, reef channels, reef faces and slopes. The Oriental sweetlips is usually solitary but is occasionally found in large groups The Oriental sweetlips changes color as it matures. Juveniles under about inches are reddish brown overall with white circular areas. As they grow, the body color changes to silver-white with black stripes and horizontal stripes running laterally across the body (from the head to the tail, including the fins). The Republic of Maldives, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean–Arabian Sea area, consisting of a double chain of twenty-six atolls, oriented north-south, that lie between Minicoy Island (the southernmost part of Lakshadweep, India) and the Chagos Archipelago. The chains stand in the Laccadive Sea, and the capital, Malé, is about 600 kilometres (370 mi) south-west of India and 750 kilometres (470 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka. The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in both population and land area. With an average ground level elevation of metres (4 ft 11 in) above sea level, it is the planet's lowest country. It is also the country with the lowest natural highest point in the world, at metres (7 ft 10 in). Future inundation of the Maldives due to rising sea levels is of great concern to its people, motivating the government to have pledged to be carbon neutral by 2019
Size: 3648px × 2736px
Location: Cocoa Island Makunufushi South Malé Atoll Republic of Maldives
Photo credit: © Niall Ferguson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: coral, eye-stripe, fish, indian, maldives, marine, ocean, oriental, plectorhinchus, reef, shoal, snorkel, surgeonfish, sweetlips, tropical, undersea, underwater, vittatus, wildlife
