Fish
Gorgeous Swallowtail
Meganthias natalensis
A vividly coloured deep-reef anthias off KZN, with a forked tail drawn into long trailing lobes.
Also known as gorgeous seaperch, natal swallowtail, swallowtail gorgeous
- Typical size
- Commonly 25-40 cm
- Habitat
- Deep rocky reefs and drop-offs
- Depth
- Roughly 100-250 m
The gorgeous swallowtail is a striking deep-water anthiine seabass, richly coloured in reds, yellows and pinks, with a deeply forked tail whose lobes extend into long streamers. It belongs to the same broad family as the groupers but is a smaller, more delicate reef fish.
It lives on deep rocky reefs and drop-offs off the KwaZulu-Natal coast, well below normal recreational diving depths, usually encountered only by deep-drop anglers or on deep technical dives. There it hovers over the reef picking plankton and small prey from the water column. Being a deep-reef specialist, it is rarely seen alive by divers.