Welcome to the Marine Mili series, a regular column about all things marine! During this series I aim to inspire people to want to protect our oceans and all the marine life that call our oceans home. Hopefully after reading each column, you would have learnt something new including what we can do to help protect and preserve our oceans. You can follow me and my journey on my Instagram page: _marine_mili.

The Old Wives Fish got their name many years ago from sailors who used to catch them. It was said when pulled into the net and taken out of the water the Old Wives would make grinding and grunting noises, reminding the sailors of their wives scolding them. When this fish is in a high-pressure situation, it tends to grind its teeth, which is how it make those unique noises.

This species is a part of the family Enoplosidae, and the Old Wives fish are the only modern species of this family. They can grow between 25-30 centimetres on average and tend to travel in pairs or groups. There are multiple reasons for this including protection, cleaning purposes and hydrodynamic efficiency. Cleaning purposes means these fish help clean parasites of other fish. Hydrodynamic efficiency means swimming in pairs or small groups makes it easier to swim by reducing drag and saving energy.

These inquisitive fish are easy to recognise due to their distinguishing features including their six to eight bold black strips on the sides of their body and a short, pointed snout. They also have yellow-coloured eyes and even two tall dorsal fins.

This species is poisonous and have venomous fin spines on their dorsal fins, gill cover and ventral fins.