Photos by Guido Zsilavecz	Koester Acanthistius sebastoides This uncommon fish was seen at Percy's, near Rooi Els, just beyond the reefs, on a bottom covered by small, football-sized, rounded boulders. Here it hid between and under these boulders, and was quite hard to photograph, as it did not like to be exposed. While koesters are known from at least Namibia to Mozambique, they are more common in warmer water - I have seen many at, for example, Plettenberg Bay, and this is the first time Peter and Guido have seen this fish at the Cape. The fish is a member of the rockcods (family Serranidae). The eyes, having that egg-shape, with the narrow apex at the front, is something most rockcods have, and it can thus be easily distinguised from other fish in the Cape, as most of them have perfectly round eyes. This koester shown is a juvenile, as it still shows the blue tail - adults loose that colouration.
References: Smiths' Sea Fishes, MM Smith and PC Heemstra, 1986. Two Oceans, A guide to the marine life of Southern Africa, GM Branch, CL Griffiths, ML Branch and LE Beckley, 1994.
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