FishCommonVisible while snorkeling

Sea goldie

Pseudanthias squamipinnis

The orange cloud shimmering in the background of every Red Sea photo – dancing over the corals in their thousands, the reef would not be the same without them.

Photo: iNaturalist – (c) Nathan Cook, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nathan Cook

The sea goldie, also known as the lyretail anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis), is the fish that makes Red Sea reefs feel alive: those orange clouds hovering over the coral walls are made of these tiny, 7–12 cm fish. Females are brilliant orange-gold with a violet streak under the eye; males are larger, tinged purple-violet, with the third ray of the dorsal fin drawn out into a long banner – the reason for the Hungarian name meaning "banner basslet".

The species lives in harems: each male keeps a dozen or so females, and the group hovers in the current above a coral head, picking tiny plankton from the water. At any sign of danger the whole cloud vanishes into the coral branches in a blink, then gradually "blooms" out again. Their most astonishing ability is sex change: every sea goldie is born female, and if the harem's male disappears, the senior female transforms into a male within days – colours, behaviour and all.

Around Hurghada you never have to search for it, because it is everywhere: the orange masses ripple over current-swept reef edges, coral blocks and pinnacles from the surface down to 20–30 metres. Snorkelers see them shimmering over the shallow reef tops, and as a diver it is worth stopping by a wall just to watch the cloud open and close to the rhythm of the current – one of the Red Sea's most beautiful, perpetually moving sights.

Did you know?

Every sea goldie is born female. If the harem's male disappears, the most senior female turns into a male within days: she recolours to purple, grows the long banner ray and takes command of the harem.

Where can you meet it?

Abundant on every Hurghada reef: the orange cloud ripples constantly over the wall of El Fanadir, the blocks of Gota Abu Ramada and the coral gardens of the Giftun Islands.

Frequently asked questions

Not at all – it is a few-centimetre plankton eater that ignores people entirely. You can hover in the middle of the cloud and they will simply dance around you.

Guaranteed: the orange clouds shimmer over even the shallow reef tops, often half a metre below the surface. This is the one fish you simply cannot miss at Hurghada.

The larger, purplish ones with the long banner ray are the males – each harem has only a few, while the orange masses are the females. Look closely at the cloud and you will easily pick out the "bosses".