Fish
Cape Moony
Monodactylus falciformis
A silvery, disc-shaped estuarine fish that schools in shimmering shoals through KZN and Cape estuaries and harbours.
Also known as full moony, maanvis, moony, oval moony
- Typical size
- Commonly 15-25 cm
- Habitat
- Estuaries, lagoons, harbours and inshore shallows
- Depth
- Shallow water, surface to about 10 m
The Cape moony is a thin, almost disc-shaped fish with a bright silver body, faint dark bars through the head and eye, and tall sickle-shaped dorsal and anal fins tinged yellow. Juveniles in particular gather in dense, glittering schools that wheel and flash in the shallows.
It is an estuarine and inshore species found from the Cape around to KZN, thriving in the brackish water of estuaries, lagoons and harbours and tolerating a wide range of salinity. Moonies feed on small invertebrates, detritus and algae, and their schooling habit makes them a familiar sight to divers and snorkellers in sheltered coastal water. They are harmless and of little interest to spearos, but add life and movement to estuarine dives.