Diplodus caudimacula
Silver Porgy turn up uncommonly on Florida reefs in 23-29C water, year-round, with no clear seasonal pattern yet logged.
Silver Porgy is a slim, deep-bodied fish reaching around 21cm, with a silvery-grey flank that can flash faint pale bars when the light hits it. The single most useful mark is a dark saddle-like blotch sitting on the upper side near the base of the tail, distinct from any facial markings. It shares the general Diplodus body shape (oval, laterally compressed, single continuous dorsal fin) common to porgies and breams, so that tail blotch is what separates it from the crowd at a glance.
Divers usually find Silver Porgy hovering low over reef structure or hard bottom, often in small loose groups rather than tight schools. It tends to hold its distance rather than approach divers, drifting off into structure if you close in too fast. Most logs place it as an uncommon backdrop fish rather than a target sighting, seen while working a reef rather than sought out specifically.
Like other Diplodus porgies, it likely feeds on small invertebrates and algae picked from reef surfaces, which is why you tend to spot it working low over structure rather than in open water.
Recorded sightings don't show a concentrated season, so treat this as a year-round encounter. Observed water temperatures run from 23 to 29C, comfortably within Florida's reef temperature range for most of the year.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Sightings logged for this species come almost entirely from Florida, United States, where it turns up as a reliable but uncommon find across a spread of dive sites. There is not yet data supporting other countries or regions, so Florida is currently the place to look for it.
Mapping where Silver Porgy is logged…
The strongest and most consistent sightings come from Florida, United States, where divers log it uncommonly across a range of reef sites. It hasn't been well documented in other regions yet, so Florida is the safest bet.
There's no strong seasonal pattern in the sightings, so it's considered a year-round find. It's been observed in water between 23 and 29C, which covers most of the diving calendar in Florida.
Look for a silvery, oval-bodied fish around 21cm with a distinctive dark blotch near the base of the tail. That tail marking is the quickest way to separate it from similar-looking breams on the same reef.
They typically reach about 21cm, making them a modest-sized reef fish rather than a standout for size. You're more likely to notice them by their tail marking than their bulk.
No, they pose no danger to divers. They're a calm, retreating reef fish that keeps its distance rather than approaching or acting defensively.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
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