Reef Ecology Guide Phuket Thailand - Bony Fishes 5

A small, tropical family, closely related to Snappers. Fusiliers are schooling, planktivorous, small fishes with streamlined bodies.

On the reefs these fishes have ornamental value with their bright colors, mostly yellow and blue. Large schools commonly patrol the slopes and walls in pursuit of zooplankton. By night, they change color and hide in caves and crevices in the coral reef.

A widespread family of bottom dwelling fishes, living on sandy flats or coral rubble. An easily identified family by the presence of a pair of barbels on the chin.

Many are bright red all over or with broad bands. Sometimes these colors show during the day when resting on the substrate or when visiting cleaning stations to highlight the presence of parasites.

Goatfishes use their strong barbels to dig and sense prey in the substrate. Their diet consists of  crustaceans, invertebrates and small fish. Often they are accompanied by unrelated species such as wrasses, which keep an eye on the work of the goatfish in case something tasty appears.

A large, globally distributed tropical family with about 70 species, mostly of red coloration.

They are nocturnal, by day commonly seen in caves or under large overhangs along drop-offs. They are secretive, occurring singly or schooling in caves. At night they hunt for shrimps or large zooplankton and swim individually over reefs or sand.

All species have in common a deep forked caudal fin, big eyes, an elastic mouth and large scales. Also includes Squirrel fishes (Holocentrinae), which have a prominent spine on the lower corner of the gill cover, which is thought to be venomous in some species.

The wrasses make up one of the largest families of fishes on tropical reefs worldwide. It comprises more than 60 genera and an estimated 400 species.

Wrasses are highly diverse in shape and range greatly in size. They can be recognized by their thick lips and a tight mouth opening. Normally juveniles become females first and males derive from females.

In almost all species the fully developed males become very colorful and can look totally different from the earlier stages. Most males dominate a number of females and are territorial towards other males.

Wrasses feed on a great variety of invertebrates and small fishes. A few are specialized feeders, taking plankton or picking parasites from other fishes. Wrasses are active at day and retire by either burying in the sand or by wedging themselves into crevices.