Meet the Reticulated Filefish—The Reef’s Camouflage Virtuoso

Reticulated Filefish (Stephanolepis diaspros)

Check out this little guy!

I had never heard of it before — the first time I saw one was in a video I had to analyze and identify the fish (massive headache, BTW). Then, during another fieldwork session, I finally saw it live and in full HD. It was so well camouflaged, I almost missed it — pure luck!

This funky-looking fish is actually pretty common in UAE waters, including around Abu Dhabi. It’s about 25 cm long, flat-bodied, and covered in wild patterns that make it a master of disguise. Males even rock a filament-like spine on their backs like they’re walking in fashion week. You’ll find them hanging out in seagrass beds or algae meadows, snacking on tiny crustaceans and mollusks they pick off rocks.

But here’s the part that totally blew my mind: its presence in Abu Dhabi is proof of the ecological connection between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea (when I read about this, I thought… What the??). Like other marine species, it can actually cross from the Red Sea to the Med through the Suez Canal. It does this during its larval stage, just drifting along with the currents until it finds a place with the right conditions to settle. So, studying it helps us understand how species migrate and how marine biodiversity is changing in this part of the world.

Another beautiful species I just learned about in Abu Dhabi.