No photo available
Lunar fusilier
Caesio lunaris
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Lunar fusilier
- Scientific
- Caesio lunaris
- Dhivehi
- Noo mas
- Family
- Lutjanidae (snappers)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 40 cm (total length)
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 0 to 50 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2015
Description
A blue fusilier with a white belly and a forked tail with black tips to both lobes; small juveniles have a yellow tail. It forms large schools in open water along the upper edge of steep reef slopes and around patch reefs, picking zooplankton from the current. Like other fusiliers it is active by day and shelters in the reef at night.
In the Maldives
Fusiliers (muguraan) are among the reef fish used as live bait in the Maldivian pole-and-line tuna fishery. FishBase (Maldives) gives the general name noo mas.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Caesio-lunaris.html
- fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=920&GenusName=Caesio&SpeciesName=luna
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Lunar_fusilier_(Caesio_lunaris)_(47613974412).jpg
Dhivehi name source: FishBase common names (country: Maldives) give 'Noo mas' (Latin script). FLAG: single source.