Fishes
175
FaMiLy: SCatoPhaGidae (SCatS)
Scatophagus argus argus Linnaeus 1766
Order: Perciformes
Family: Scatophagidae
Common name: Spotted scat
Distribution: Indo-Pacific: Kuwait to
Fiji, north to southern Japan, south to
New Caledonia (Valdestamon, 2013).
Habitat: Marine, freshwater, brackish
water; harbors, natural embayments,
brackish estuaries, and the lower reaches
of freshwater streams, mangroves.
Description: Body of this species is
quadrangular and strongly compressed.
Dorsal head profile is steep. Eye is
moderately large and its diameter somewhat smaller than the snout length.
Snout is rounded. Mouth is small, horizontal, and not protractile. Teeth are
villiform, arranged in several rows on
jaws. This species occurs in two basic
color morphs called green scat and ruby
or red scat. Juveniles have a few large
roundish blotches, about the size of the
eye or about five or six broad, dark, vertical bars. In large adults, spots may be
faint and restricted to the dorsal part
of flanks. This species grows to a maximum  length of 38  cm  (Valdestamon,
2013).
Nutritional Facts
Proximate Composition and Fatty Acids (g/100 g WW)
Moisture Protein Fat Fatty Acid Ash CHO a Energy b
80.73
12.99 2.13
1.49
1.09 3.06
83.37
a Carbohydrate.
b kcal/100 g.
Minerals (µg/100 g)
Cu
Zn
Fe
Mn
1838.38 3108.31 1064.45 82.05
Source: Data from Islam et al. (2010).