Maldives Marine Life

Marine life of Maldivian waters

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Golden hind
No photo available
Photo: Jerome Huet (IFREMER, Délégation océan Indien (DOI), Département Ressources Biologiques et Environnement (RBE), F-97420 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (view on Wikimedia Commons)

Golden hind

Cephalopholis aurantia

Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).

English
Golden hind
Scientific
Cephalopholis aurantia
Dhivehi
ރަން ފާނަRan faana
Group
Groupers and snappers
Family
Epinephelidae (groupers; formerly in Serranidae)
Maximum size
Up to about 60 cm (total length); commonly 30 cm
Depth and habitat
Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 40 to 300 m (usually 100 to 250 m)
IUCN status
LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2016

Description

A small, golden-orange to orange-red grouper with red or yellow dots on the head and upper body and a thin blue edge with a dark inner line on the tail. It lives on steep outer reef slopes, mostly at 100 to 250 m, and only occasionally comes shallower. It feeds mainly on crabs and is rarely seen by divers.

In the Maldives

Dhivehi name ran faana (MRS 1997). Caught on deep handlines over outer reef slopes.

Sources

Dhivehi name source: Thaana from the Dhivehi Wikipedia article 'ރަން ފާނަ' (derived from the MRS 1997 Dhivehi edition). No published Latin-script form found; 'Ran faana' is Pax's transliteration of the Thaana (Malé Latin conventions). FLAG: Latin form is a transliteration, not a published spelling.