Bridled tuskfish
Choerodon frenatus
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A small red tuskfish with blue bridle-lines drawn across an orange face and a pale blue spot on many of its scales. It keeps to deeper rubble slopes and is one of the prettiest fish on the reef at close range — which is the only range it reads at.
how to recognise it
- blue diagonal stripes on the snout and below the eye — the bridle the name is for
- small and reddish, with an olive-brown wash above the lateral line at the front
- pink sides, each scale sometimes carrying a pale blue to lavender spot
- to about 18 cm
don’t confuse with
- Harlequin tuskfish — the harlequin tuskfish is boldly barred in orange-red and white, which nothing else here is
- Darkspot tuskfish — the darkspot has a ringed black spot on the middle of the dorsal fin
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 18 cm TL.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~14 cm, to 18 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (18 cm TL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 11 at 5 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Heron Island (GBR), Lady Musgrave Island, Wolf Rock (Rainbow Beach), Point Lookout (N Stradbroke), Cylinder Beach (N Stradbroke). A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
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A gap means no record in the sample, not absence.
the rule
QLD — Min: 30cm · Combined limit: 6 in total of all tuskfish species
source
· verified 2026-10-10
no NSW rule listed — check before you dive
no closed season recorded for this species — that is not the same as open; check the official page
Rules checked 2026-10-13 against qld.gov.au
Rules change. Check before you dive.
Occurrence data: Atlas of Living Australia (ala.org.au), CC-BY 4.0.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.