The lower jaw points ahead like a fine needle as a school skims the lagoon’s surface.
- Local names
- Ihe
- Habitat
- Lagoon and reef
- Other names
- Legacy source name: Hemiramphus affinis
About this species
Unlike a needlefish, which it can resemble, the halfbeak has a much longer lower jaw than upper jaw and is usually smaller. Its silver-blue body is traced by a darker blue band.
It is common in calm, regularly renewed lagoon water. Groups remain close to the surface, taking small fish, zooplankton and drifting organic material.
- Guide des poissons de Tahiti et ses îles, Indo-Pacific Fish conference Tahiti 2017, P. Bachet, T. Zysman, Y. Lefèvre, Au vent des îles
- FishBase - Hyporhamphus affinis