10. Lyretail Anthias

Lyretial anthias is a marine aquarium fish native to the Indo-West pacific. The most interesting feature about lyretail anthias is all the fishes in the species born as females and will change to male upon growing. The color of this species also changes in growing stage. They mainly found in blue, pink and gold colors. Male lyretail anthias have a size of five inches, females are little smaller. They mainly live in coral systems.


The sea goldie (Pseudanthias squamipinnis), also known as the lyretail coralfish, lyretail anthias, and scalefin anthias, is a small species of colorful fish in the subfamily Anthiinae.

The sea goldie is found in the western Indian Ocean including the Red Sea, and in the Pacific Ocean as far east as Japan and southeast Australia. It is absent from the Persian Gulf and Oman.

Female: Length up to 7 cm (2.75 in), orange/gold color with violet streak below the eye. Male: Length up to 15 cm (5.9 in), fuchsia color with elongated third ray of the dorsal fin, a red patch on the pectoral fin, and elongated margins of the tail. The midas blenny, Ecsenius midas, goes through a phase of yellow colouration and is a social mimic of the sea goldie.

The sea goldie feeds primarily on zooplankton. Like other anthias, the sea goldie is a protogynous hermaphrodite; a male retains a harem of five to 10 females, but when the male dies, one of the females will undergo sex reversal and take the place of the missing male. Spawning occurs at sunset, between December and February (in the Red Sea).

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