Fish Index
Sweetlips, Snappers, Fusiliers and Emperors are all closely related. They represent a significant proportion of the reef biomass. While they are not endangered, their numbers and good taste encouirage dynamite fishing in some areas. The impact of this on reefs is catastrophic.
Goatfish are active bottom dwellers that can often be seen routing around for invertebrates around reefs.
Süsslippen, Meerbarben, Strassenkehrer, Füsiliere, Schnapper, Meerbarben, Scheinschnapper
Note: this seach is a little slow the first time run, but then is fast. It is private and not tracked!
Sweetlips (also known as grunts) are closely related to snappers. The name grunt comes from the sound that they can make by grating their teeth. The juveniles often look not only completely different from the adults, but they have a very characteristic swimming motion. They are in continuous motion, rapidly flexing form side to side, up and down, turning around and around, all of which makes them very difficult to catch by predators.
Goatfish are easily recognised by their body that is flattened on the underside, and the two downward point barbels on the sides of the elongated heads. They are mostly bottom-dwellers using the sensitive barbels to find their prey.
Most species change their colouration at night and a few species have different colour forms.
There are somewhat over a hundred species of snapper, about a third of which live is association with coral reefs. They are often seen in the day in very large aggregations just over corals, or in the water cólumn just over or to the side of reefs. These day-time aggregations break up at dusk when they start to hunt.
Fusiliers used to be included with snappers, but are now in a separate family. Their bodies are more streamlined and almost torpedolike. They are zooplankton feeders forming large mixed aggregations at the outer reef edges. The aggregations are so large and the fish make such good eating that they are often the target of dynamite fishing.
Emperors are related to Sweetlips and Snappers. Most live the fring of reefs and feed on various invertebrates living in the sand or rubble.
These are seen during the day on SE Asia reefs feeding on benthic invertebrates. The young of some species often have spectacular colours.