Cornetfish Identification Guide
Recognize this whip-tailed, extremely elongated reef fish by its tubular snout and long filament trailing from the tail.
Read the full Cornetfish encyclopedia entry →
Key identification features
- Extremely long, slender, torpedo-shaped body, among the most elongated of reef-associated fish
- Long, flattened tubular snout tipped with a small terminal mouth
- Distinctive thin, whip-like filament trailing from the center of the tail fin
- Silvery, greenish, or bluish coloring, sometimes with a pale midline stripe
- Widely forked tail fin aside from the central filament
- Can grow to 1.5-2 meters in length
- Eyes set well forward on the head, giving good binocular vision for spotting small prey in the water column
Common look-alikes
- Trumpetfish: shorter overall, with a fan-shaped tail lacking a filament, and often seen hovering vertically rather than swimming horizontally
- Needlefish: lack the tubular snout and tail filament, and have a more uniform, slender body shape throughout
- Houndfish and gars: share an elongated shape but have a fully toothed, elongated jaw rather than a narrow tube-like snout
Where you'll see one
Open sandy flats, seagrass beds, and reef edges in tropical and warm temperate seas worldwide, often seen swimming just above the bottom, sometimes in loose groups.
Frequently asked questions
What's the fastest way to tell a cornetfish from a trumpetfish?
Look at the tail: cornetfish has a thin whip-like filament trailing from a forked tail, while trumpetfish has a simple fan-shaped tail with no filament.
How do I recognize a cornetfish among other elongated reef fish?
Its combination of a flattened tubular snout, torpedo-shaped body, and a threadlike tail filament is distinctive and not shared by needlefish or gars.
Cornetfish identified by the community
Recent Cornetfish catches identified with Fish Identifier.
