The bluestriped goatfish (Upeneichthys lineatus) occurs along the south-eastern coast of NSW, Australia. Its body colouration and pattern is highly dynamic, changing from plain white to a red pattern colour when foraging. It is possible that the red patterning is a foraging signal to conspecifics. To establish whether the red pattern colour is a means of communication amongst conspecifics, it is first essential to understand what colours these goatfish can see. Using both physiological and behavioural experiments, we examined whether U. lineatus possesses visual pigments with sensitivity to long (red) wavelengths of light. Behavioural (operant conditioning) colour discrimination experiments suggest that wild-caught individuals can distinguish a red reward stimulus from grey distractor stimuli of variable brightness. Initial data from microspectrophotometry show that U. lineatus have several spectrally distinct cone photoreceptor types, some with sensitivity to longer wavelengths. Given other species of NSW goatfish lose the red sensitive visual pigment on settlement due to changes in the light environment, it is feasible that the capacity for U. lineatus to discriminate the colour red may provide an advantage in recognising possible signals from conspecifics. This research is key in furthering our understanding of communication systems in the marine environment.