Pacific Diana's pigfish
Bodianus dictynna (formerly Bodianus diana)
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A small wrasse with a red head grading back through yellow to a pale tail, scattered with light-yellow spots along the back. Big males carry bold black spots on the rear dorsal and on the anal and pelvic fins; females and younger fish do not, which is why two of them can look like two species.
how to recognise it
- terminal-phase males have a large prominent black spot on the rear of the dorsal fin, and on the middle of the anal and pelvic fins
- juveniles are brown with few white spots on the head above the level of the mouth, and none on the snout
- those white spots on top of the head are sparse and usually large, and the ones below and behind the eye often join into irregular stripes
- small: to about 15 cm
don’t confuse with
- Blackfin pigfish — the blackfin pigfish has a large black blotch on the BODY at the rear of the dorsal fin, and alternating yellow and white side stripes
- Eclipse pigfish — the eclipse pigfish has one clean blackish diagonal band across the middle of the fish
- Goldspot pigfish — the goldspot is much larger, orange-red, with a big oval black patch under the soft dorsal
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-15. Our wording, their facts. Max size 15 cm SL.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~12 cm, to 15 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (15 cm SL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 7 at 4 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Bougainville Reef (Coral Sea), Holmes Reef (Coral Sea), SS Yongala Wreck, Lady Musgrave Island. 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: 25cm · Limit: 5
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.