Scientific Name	Mesopristes cancellatus   Pronounce			by: Lab of Fish Ecol. and Evo., BRCAS
Author	(Cuvier, 1829)	Depth	1 - 25M
Chinese	格紋中鋸鯻	Poisonous Fish	No
Family_Chinese	鯻科	Economic Fish	No
Family	F399　Terapontidae	Edible Fish	Yes	Chinese In Mainland China	格紋中鋸鯻
Max Length	23 cm	Aquarium Fish	No	Common Name	斑吾、雞仔魚、格紋島鯻、格紋雞魚
Distribution in World	Middle West Pacific Ocean	Distribution in Taiwan	West
Habitats	Benthos、Estuary、Fresh Water、Coastal	Holotype Locality	Java, Indonesia
Synonyms	Datnia cancellata, Terapon cancellatus, Therapon cancellata, Therapon cancellatus
Reference	臺灣魚類誌(沈等, 1993)  Cuvier, G. etc. 1829 沈世傑 編 Shih-Chieh Shen ed. 1993
Specimen List	NMMBP02027. NMMBP05707. NMMBP05740. NMMBP05741. NMMBP05742. NMMBP05743. NTHUB03074.
Common Name	Tapiroid grunter
Redlist Status	Not in IUCN Redlist
Characteristic	Body moderately deep, distinctly compressed laterally. Upper jaw longer than lower jaw, increasingly so in larger specimens; upper jaw fleshy and forming a prominent fleshy pad with age. Teeth conical, outer row enlarged and followed by bands of villiform teeth in each jaw; vomer and palatines toothless. Preopercle serrate. First gill arch with 9 to 11 gill rakers on upper limb, 16 to 19 on lower limb. Dorsal fin with XI or XII spines and 10 or 11 soft rays; anal fin with III spines and 8 or 9 soft rays.Pore scales in lateral line 48 to 58. Dorsal portions of body grey, ventral part of body silvery to silvery white; body with 3 dark longitudinal stripes and with 5 dark oblique cross bars dorsal to uppermost stripe. Fins grey whitish to light yellow.
habitats	Inhabits salt and brackish waters of bays and estuaries, penetrating into fresh water. Juveniles are sometimes found in streams within 5-10 km of the sea.
Distribution	From Sumatra eastward through rest of Indonesia, New Guinea, and Vanuatu to the Solomon Islands; north to the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. It is very rare and only found from freshwater to brackish-water regions of rivers in southwestern Taiwan.
Utility	Food fish; marketed fresh.