Upeneus heemstra
species of fish
Upeneus heemstra, the Heemstra's goatfish, is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Upeneus. It was first described by Franz Uiblein and Gavin Gouws in 2014.
Distribution and habitat
Upeneus heemstra is a marine demersal species mostly found across the western Indian Ocean, with a range extending from Mozambique to the central Red Sea, including western India and Sri Lanka. It typically occurs on soft sand and muddy seabeds close to coral reef areas. It is found at depths between 0 and 12 metres.
Description
It has an elongated body, slightly compressed laterally, with a pointed head profile and large eyes. The maximum recorded length is 15 cm. The barbels are yellowish. The coloration is predominantly brown on the back, where there are darker streaks that end at the caudal peduncle, and pale on the belly, where there are many small dark or reddish spots. Spots and streaks are also present on the fins, particularly on the caudal fin, which is forked, where there are 12 oblique stripes of variable coloration.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Upeneus heemstra” as species of fish. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of fish. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17639280. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “Upeneus heemstra” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.