Maldives Marine Life

Marine life of Maldivian waters

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Blackbelly tonguesole
No photo available
Photo: Charles Henry Gilbert / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (view on Wikimedia Commons)Historical illustration. Source: Gilbert, Charles Henry (1905) Deep Sea Fishes : Aquatic Resources of the Hawaiian Islands, Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission, vol. 23 for 1903, part; Commons file: FMIB 42751 Symphurus strictus Gilbert, new species Type.jpeg

Blackbelly tonguesole

Symphurus strictus

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

English
Blackbelly tonguesole
Scientific
Symphurus strictus
Dhivehi
No recorded Dhivehi name
Group
Reef fish
Family
Cynoglossidae (tonguefishes)
Maximum size
Up to about 14 cm (total length)
Depth and habitat
Deep-water, on or near the bottom, recorded from 392 to 730 m
IUCN status
LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2020

Description

A small deep-water tonguefish, brown on the upper side with faint dark lines and a black belly, reaching about 14 cm. It lives on soft bottoms at about 400 to 730 m.

Sources

Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in MRS 1997 (available chapters), FishBase (country: Maldives) or Dhivehi Wikipedia.