striped piggy

Pomadasys stridens has a silvery body which is slightly darker dorsally than it is ventrally. It has 3-4 golden-brown stripes along its body, merging towards the caudal peduncle, and a dark blotch on the operculum. It has a relatively large head with a small, slightly oblique mouth and two pores on the tip of the chin which lie in front of a short indentation. It has 12 spines and 13–14 soft rays in the dorsal fin with 3 spines and 3 soft rays in the anal fin. It grows up to 23 cm standard length but averages 10 cm, with females normally growing to a slightly larger size than males.

Pomadasys stridens is indigenous to the western Indian Ocean from the Red Sea south along the eastern African coast to South Africa, east to the western coast of India, including the Persian Gulf, Lakshadweep archipelago and the Maldives; it is also found off Madagascar, the Seychelles and Mascarene islands. Recorded for the first time in the Mediterranean in 1969 in the Gulf of Genoa, it was later found in the Bardawil Lagoon in Egypt and extended north in Levantine waters with a known population off İskenderun, Turkey.