Dotted sweetlips (Diagramma pictum) is a saltwater species recorded in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore. It is mainly found over reef, coral, rocky, sand, mud, estuary, at depths of 1–170 m. The main season in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore runs spring, autumn, winter.
Scientific name: Diagramma pictum · Water: Saltwater · Season: Spring, Autumn, Winter · Also known as: Painted sweetlips
Size: up to 100 cm
Weight: up to 6.3 kg
The Dotted sweetlips is a thick-lipped haemulid of the genus Diagramma. Adults are blue-grey with golden spots while juveniles wear bold black-and-white bars, so the two ages look like different fish. Hong Kong calls it by a Cantonese name. It favours turbid water over muddy and sandy bottoms, around estuaries, rock outcrops and wrecks, with juveniles in weedy areas, and feeds on bottom shrimps, crabs and fish. Taiwan and Singapore have it all year, Hong Kong mainly in spring, autumn and winter. In Taiwan it is a regular of the western sandy-mud grounds, estuaries and the reefs of Penghu, and a staple of oyster-rack, raft and boat trips in the south-west where it features steadily in the government angling reports. In Singapore it is met in river mouths and sheltered bays, off Changi, Seletar and Sungei Buloh and around the deeper edges of the southern islands. The literature gives a maximum total length of 100 cm, a usual 55 cm and a top weight of 6.3 kg, and it occurs to 170 m in Taiwan and Hong Kong and about 80 m in Singapore. Bottom fishing with prawn, squid strip or fish chunk works; the thick lips and cautious bite mean a larger hook and patience pay.
Caution: large individuals carry a ciguatera risk. Heat, cold and marinating do not remove the toxin, which concentrates in the liver, roe and head, so avoid eating those parts. Seek medical help if numbness, tingling or a reversed sense of hot and cold follows a meal.
Back to home · Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore · Species library