It seems in all our years in the Marshalls, we personally got only a single photo of Heteropriacanthus carolinus from Kwajalein. We are not sure if this represents rarity, or if we simply did not distinguish it sufficiently from its similar and apparently more common cousin, Priacanthus hamrur. One of the ways to distinguish the two species is that H. carolinus has a slightly convex tail fin, while that of P. hamrur is distinctly lunate (concave). This photo was taken in a seaward reef channel small cave.
The two photos below were taken by Jay Lord in a cave on the steep seaward slope of Kwajalein Atoll.
The photo below was taken by Jay Lord at night in about 18m of water on the seaward reef. Individuals can change color from the solid red above to this beautiful mottled and spotted pattern.
Another nicely mottled individual from Stan Jazwinski, photographed in about 16m of water at night at Mann Island.
Created 6 December 2017
Updated 6 March 2023