Parapercis lineopunctata
A tiny sandperch of Raja Ampat's reef flats, seen in warm 27-29C water and easy to overlook if you don't look down.
A slender, torpedo-shaped little fish barely 5 cm long, usually spotted perched motionless on sand or rubble propped on its pelvic fins. Look for the rows of small dark dots running along a pale body that give it its name, plus the pointed snout typical of sandperches. Its size alone rules out most other rockfish and cod family lookalikes on the reef.
Divers find it perched still on open sand or rubble patches near reef structure, often near other small sandperches doing the same thing. It is not a fish that swims about the water column, it holds position close to the bottom and makes short darting moves rather than long swims when it does react to a diver getting close. Slow, low approaches on a sandy flat are the way to actually get a good look at one, since it is logged as uncommon even where it does turn up.
Like other sandperches, it hunts by sight from its perch, darting out to snatch small invertebrates off the sand before settling right back down on the same spot.
No clear seasonal pattern shows up in the sightings, and the 26.7 to 29 C range it is found in holds steady year-round on these tropical reefs, so any month diving Raja Ampat gives a fair shot at it.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
This one is very much a West Papua fish: nearly every logged sighting comes from sites in Raja Ampat, with a single additional record from Sulawesi. If you are diving Indonesia's west Papuan reefs and checking sandy patches near coral structure, this is where to look.
Mapping where Dotlined Grubfish is logged…
Sightings concentrate strongly in West Papua, Indonesia, particularly around Raja Ampat's dive sites, with a single record from Sulawesi. It is a reliable target for divers checking sandy reef flats in that region rather than a species reported worldwide.
There is no detected season for this species, and it sits in consistently warm water between 26.7 and 29 C, so it can be found on Raja Ampat's reefs at any time of year.
Look for a small, slender fish around 5 cm long perched still on sand or rubble, with rows of fine dark dots along a pale, elongated body and a pointed sandperch snout. It rarely swims freely, instead resting propped on its pelvic fins near the seabed.
They stay small, reaching only around 5 cm, which is one reason they are easy to swim past without noticing on a sandy reef flat.
No, this is a tiny, harmless reef fish with no sting, bite, or defensive behaviour that poses any risk to divers.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Spotted Sandperch
705 sites
