You can sponsor this page

Siganus canaliculatus (Park, 1797)

White-spotted spinefoot
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
AquaMaps webservice down at the moment
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Videos | Google image
Image of Siganus canaliculatus (White-spotted spinefoot)
Siganus canaliculatus
Picture by Greenfield, J.


Philippines country information

Common names: Balanglen kuyog, Balawis, Balawis bato
Occurrence: native
Salinity: marine
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: commercial | Ref:
Aquaculture: commercial | Ref: Ogata, H.Y., A.C. Emata, E.S. Garibay and H. Furuita, 2004
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: live export: yes;
Comments: Recorded from Leyte Gulf (Ref. 68980), Davao Gulf, Bongo Island, Paril-Sangay Protected Seascape, and Moro Gulf (Ref. 106380). Museum: Taytay market, FRLM 12139. Also Ref. 1419, 48613.
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Kimura, S., 1995
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Classification / Names Nombres comunes | Sinónimos | Catalog of Fishes(Género, Especie) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

> Acanthuriformes (Surgeonfishes) > Siganidae (Rabbitfishes)
Etymology: Siganus: Latin, siganus = a fish, rabbit fish; by the similarity of the nose (Ref. 45335).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecología

marino; salobre asociado a arrecife; oceanodromo (Ref. 51243); rango de profundidad 1 - 50 m (Ref. 9813).   Tropical; 30°N - 35°S, 49°E - 174°W

Distribución Países | Áreas FAO | Ecosistemas | Ocurrencias, apariciones | Point map | Introducciones | Faunafri

Indo-West Pacific: Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Cambodia, Viet Nam, south China, Taiwan and Western Australia. Also known from Ryukyu Islands; Palau and Yap in Micronesia (Ref. 1602) and Melanesia (Ref. 712).

Length at first maturity / Tamaño / Peso / Age

Maturity: Lm 11.6, range 12 - ? cm
Max length : 40.0 cm TL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 108696); common length : 20.0 cm TL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 9813)

Short description Claves de identificación | Morfología | Morfometría

Espinas dorsales (total) : 13; Radios blandos dorsales (total) : 10; Espinas anales: 7; Radios blandos anales: 9; Vértebra: 23. This species is distinguished by the following characters: body compressed, moderately slender, its depth 2.3-2.8 in SL; last anal-fin spine 1.2-1.5 times in longest anal-fin spine (usually the third); soft parts of dorsal and anal fins low, longest dorsal-fin ray 0.7-1 times in longest dorsal-fin spine; caudal fin almost emarginate in specimens under 10 cm standard length, forked in larger fish; 16-26 (rarely 27) scale rows between lateral line and bases of leading dorsal-fin spines. Colour of body highly variable, greenish grey to yellow brown with numerous (100-200) pearly blue to whitish spots on nape and trunk, match-head size on lower sides; 2-3 rows between first spine of dorsal fin and lateral line (area of eye would cover about 6 spots in this region), and about 10 rows between highest point of lateral line and base of first anal-fin spine; when frightened or injured, sides mottled light and dark brown and cream, creating 6 or 7 regularly spaced, dark diagonal zones with paler zones of similar width between them; dark eye-sized spot usually just behind upper end of gill opening, and a narrow bar along upper edge of gill cover (Ref. 9813, 90102).

Biología     Glosario (por ej. epibenthic)

Adults inhabit inshore, algae reefs, estuaries and in large lagoons with algae-rubble habitats. Mainly common on rocky substrates (Ref. 48637). In contrast to S. fuscescens, this species seems to tolerate more turbid waters, occurring within the vicinity of river mouths especially around seagrass beds. Adults also occur several kilometers offshore in deep, clear waters. Juveniles form very large schools in shallow bays and coral reef flats; school size reduces with size, with adults occurring in groups of 20 individuals or so. Herbivorous, feed on benthic algae and to some extent on seagrass. Fished by trawling and seine netting; bycatch in traps set in deep water and marketed fresh in very large numbers (Ref. 9813). Consumed as food; and have poisonous spines (Ref. 4537).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproducción | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larva

Multiple spawner (Ref. 1753). Larger fish may spawn more than once in a spawning season (Ref. 1753). Spawn in group (Ref. 240).

Main reference Upload your references | Referencias | Coordinador : Woodland, David J. | Colaboradores

Woodland, D.J., 1990. Revision of the fish family Siganidae with descriptions of two new species and comments on distribution and biology. Indo-Pac. Fish. (19):136 p. (Ref. 1419)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 10 March 2015

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Venomous (Ref. 4537)




Human uses

Can't connect to MySQL database (fbapp). Errorcode: Too many connections