Photo by Peter Southwood
Adult steentjie at night. Photo by Guido Zsilavecz
Adult steentjie during the day. Photo by Guido Zsilavecz
School of juvenile steentjie at the Maori. Photo by Guido Zsilavecz
Steentjie are medium-sized fish, attaining 45 cm, but usually seen smaller than that. They school, generally in not very dense schools, and may occasionally be seen in very small groups of only a few individuals. They belong to the family Sparidae, which contains many similar-looking silvery fishes, such as the hottentot, blue hottentot and strepie. Steentjie can be distinguished from the others by having a few feint, thin light blue and yellow lines along the side - strepie have more, and thicker, yellow lines, while hottentot and blue hottentot lack these.
The juvenile shown has a slightly blotched appearance, which is common for these fish during the night, and the blotches are not present during the day - the first photo by Guido shows an adult at night, while the second is an adult during the day. Although often seen singly, juvenile steentjies are occasionally found in dense schools - I've seen such a school at the wreck of the Maori, where it stayed shelterd under the wreck, as shown in the last photo.
Steentjies have one of the most conspicuous and interesting spawning behaviour of all fishes found around the Cape Peninsula. The males become darker and each will start clearing an area of sand down to an underlying flat rock - the nest - which they will protect and defend, often battling neighbours and other fishes as well. The eggs are small, pale yellow spheres, laid in a mat over the rock, well guarded by the male. In the Two Oceans aquarium the males were so aggresive they even bit divers, but in the wild they probably find us a bit too big. If you see such a nest lie down a few meters away and enjoy the sight of the fish "sweeping" the area clean, and removing larger pieces of debris by mouth, as well as squabling constantly with neighbouring steentjies. It is a most fascinating scene!
See "Coastal fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay", available from SURG, for more details.
Coastal fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay, a divers' identification guide, G Zsilavecz, 2005.
Two Oceans, A guide to the marine life of Southern Africa, GM Branch, CL Griffiths, ML Branch and LE Beckley, 1994.
Coastal Fishes of Southern Africa, PC Heemsta and E Heemstra, 2004.
Smiths' Sea Fishes, MM Smith and PC Heemstra, 1986.