Humpnose big-eye bream, Bigeye barenose, Bigeye bream, Bigeye emperor, Grand-eyed porgy fish, Humpnose sea-bream, Large-eye bream, Mu, Roundtooth large-eye bream
Monotaxis grandoculis, the humpnose big-eye bream, bigeye barenose, bigeye bream, bigeye emperor, grand-eyed porgy fish, humpnose sea-bream, large-eye bream,mu and roundtooth large-eye bream, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Lethrinidae, the emperors and emperor breams. This species is found in the Indian and Pacific Ocean.
Monotaxis grandoculis has the specific name grandoculis which is a reference to the large eye of this species, which also has the common name large-eye bream and the family is also called large-eyed breams.
Monotaxis granoculis has an oblong body has a depth that fits into its standard length between 2.1 and 2.7 times. The dorsal profile of the head creates a clear hump in front of the eyes with a steeply sloping snout below the hump. It has a large eye which has a diameter roughy equel to the length of the snout. The rear margin of the preoperculum is finely serrated. There are canine-like teeth in the front of each jaw and these give way to small in the front of the sides of the jaws and with molar-like teeth in the back of the jaws. The dorsal fin has 10 spines and 10 softrays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 9 soft rays. The overall colour of this bream is silvery-greyish with thin dark margins on each scale and a large black blotch on the axil of the pectoral fin. There are frequentlt 3-4 black vertical bands divided by thinner white bands on the back. Juveniles are marked with have 3 wide dark brown to blackish bars, resembling saddles, on the body with the two rear bars extending onto the dorsal fin, there is a black bar running through the eye and an reddish band along the outer part of the lobes of the caudal fin. This species has a maximum published total length of 60 cm (24 in), although 40 cm (16 in) is more typical, and the maximum published weight is 5.9 kg (13 lb).
Monotaxis grandoculis has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution from the Red Sea and the coast of eastern Africa as far south as South Africa, across the Indian Ocean, although it is absent from the Persian Gulf. In the Pacific Ocean ot extends as far east as the Hawaiian Islands, north to southern Japan and south to Australia. In Australia it is found at
Monotaxis grandoculis are often encountered as solitary individuals but large adults may form schools of up to 50 individuals. It feeds on benthic invertebrates and fishes. This species has been found to be a host for the parasites Haliotrema angulocirrus, Proctoeces hawaiiensis, Pseudoplagioporus labiatus, Pycnadenoides pagrosomi and Transversotrema lacerta.
