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Otherfish

Phalguni Ranjan

Two-lined monocle bream

( Scolopsis bilineata )

Habitat

Inhabiting coral reefs, the two-lined monocle bream can be found at depths between 1-25m.

Description

They can grow up to about 25cm and have a white bar outlined in black curving up from the mouth to the top of the body. Above the eyes are two white lines. An interesting characteristic of this species is that they exhibit 'biofluroescence' a sort of glow in the dark type of mechanism. This occurs when the light shed on the fish during the day is absorbed and then re-emmited as a green colour later, only the stipes on the upper front part of the fish are visible. Research suggests that this is a camouflage mechanism so the fish can blend in with the glowing corals.

Diet

They feed on small fishes and another small invertebrates moving on the ocean floor.

Evan Nazareth

Striped eel catfish

( Plotosus lineatus )

Habitat

Found in coral reefs, tide pools, estuaries as well as sometimes in the open ocean.

Description

Reaching a maximum length of 32 cm, they have a brown body with yellowish-white coloured horizontal stripes. Their mouth is surrounded by four extensions called 'barbels' and a stricking feature of this species is that a few of their fins have a venomous spine that can be fatal.

Diet

They feed on crustaceans, molluscs, worms and fish which they find by looking through sand.

Vardhan Patankar

Leopard flounder

( Bothus pantherinus )

Habitat

You are most likely to find them moving along the sand in lagoons and coral reefs at depths of 3-100 m.

Description

They can grow up to 39 m long, they both their eyes on one side of their body. Leopard flounders use their colour to camouflage themselves to the sand that it moves on,along the sea floor and hence the exhibit a dull, spotted colouring like that of sand or rubble.

Diet

They feed on small crustaceans and fish that they wait for to swim by.

Phalguni Ranjan

Doublebar goatfish

( Parupeneus trifasciatus )

Habitat

Found usually resting on corals in lagoons and inshore coral reefs, at a maximum depth of 80 m.

Description

They are pale coloured with a dark blotch on the eye and two dark blotches on the body. They also have a yellow spot on each scale, giving their pale coloured body a dotted in yellow appearance. In terms of their maximum length, they can grow up to 35 cm and you are most likely to find them lurking around alone.

Diet

They feed on crustaceans in the day and planktonic particles in the night.

Joydeep Sarkar

Chestnut jawfish

( Opistognathus sp. )

Habitat

Found in shallow waters at depths between 3-40 m, usually in areas where there is a lot of rubble or material available to build burrows.

Description

They are usually seen with their head protruding out of their burrows which they construct in sandy areas, they will fill their mouth with sand and then spit it out to create a tunnel. They are very similar to blennies as they are quite small, growing up to a maximum length of 10 cm. Their head and its accompanying parts such as the eyes and the mouth are fairly bigger compared to the rest of the body.

Diet

They feed on plankton and other small organisms by darting out of their burrows and the fish will sort of peak out to catch their prey.

Jonathan Emmett

Moorish Idol

( Zanclus cornutus )

Habitat

Found in shallow waters, they are known to prefer flat reefs. They are found at depths between the surface and as deep as 100 in clear and murky conditions.

Description

Others are a distincitive fish known for their black, white and yellow bands on their body. Their fin on the top of the body has an elongated part that resembles that of a thread. Growing up to a maximum length of 23cm, you might have seen them in the Pixar movie Finding Nemo.

Diet

They feed on sponge, coral, tunicates and other invertebrates moving on the ocean sediment.

Phalguni Ranjan

Bluetail mullet 

( Crenimugil buchanani )

Habitat

You can find them in shallow waters at depths between 0-10 m close to the shoreline, near mangroves and estuaries

Description

Recorded to reach a maximum length of 100 cm, their sides are greenish in colour and the underside of the fish is silvery. The fins on the side are yellow in colour and have a blue spot from where the side fins originate from the body of the fish. Their tail is bright blue in colour.

Diet

They are known to feed on planktonic organisms and crustaceans.

Sawtooth barracuda

( Sphyraena putnamiae )

Habitat

Found in areas with rich coral cover such as lagoons and seaward reef slopes at depths between 3-30m.

Diet

A large part of it diets depends on feeding on coral polyps but they feed on algae and small invertebrates as well.

Joydeep Sarkar

Pickhandle barracuda

( Sphyraena jello )

Habitat

Found in schools, swimming around coral reefs. They form large schools and have been recorded at the deepest depth of 200 m.

Description

They have around 20 wavy shaped markings on the side of their completely silver body. You might mistake them for the sawtooth barracuda, however what makes the pickhandle stand out is their yellow tail fin. They have been recorded to grow up to a maximum length of 150 cm and their body shape is similar to the other barracudas.

Diet

They have been recorded to feed on small fish and squids.

Joydeep Sarkar

Chinese trumpetfish

( Aulostomus chinensis )

Habitat

They are found in waters as deep as 120 m usually in areas where water is more calm and clear around coral and rocky reefs.

Description

These fish can grow up to about 80 cm in length. They have an elongated body, with a long snout which they are able to extend or protrude to catch prey. They body colour depens on the individual in question but can range from grey, brown, dark green and even bright yellow. They have to distinctive black spots on their tail with one on the top part of the fin and a second on the bottom.

Diet

They are known to feed on small fish and crustaceans.

Phalguni Ranjan

Freckled goatfish

( Upeneus tragula )

Habitat

Found in areas with sandy bottoms and nearshore areas, usually roaming as individuals. You can also find them at areas where rivers meet the ocean.

Description

The freckled goatfish is a whitish coloured goatfish with scattered brown spots, they have yellow coloured extension from below their mouth called 'barbels' which are used to search for food from the ocean floor. This species has a yellow-brown stripe that stretches from the snout to the part where the tail meets the rest of the body. They have two fins on the top of the body which have brown tips.

Diet

They feed on bottom dwelling organisms such as worms, snails, shrimp, sea stars etc.

Vardhan Patankar

Moontail bullseye

( Priacanthus hamrur )

Habitat

Found in and around coral reefs in outer reef slopes and rocky areas at depths between 30 - 50 m.

Description

Reaching a maximum length of about 45 cm, they have very large red coloured eyes and are hence, sometimes referred to as the goggle eye or lunar-tailed big eye in reference to their eyes and their crescent-shaped tail. These species are known to change their colour several times during their life, though they are commonly spotted and more recognized by their bright orange to red colour.

Diet

They feed usually in the night on small fish, crustaceans and other invertebrates. Their big eyes are known to assist them in feeding in the night by providing better clarity and vision.

Vardhan Patankar

Sawtooth Barracuda

( Sphyraena putnamae )

Habitat

You can find them around coral reefs as well as the open or pelagic ocean. Usually forming schools large schools of fish.

Description

Like the other barracudas, the sawtooth barracuda have a large pointed head and fang like teeth making for a quite scary appearance. Their bodies are shaped in a way that allows them to swim fast and reduce drag, resembling that of a dart. The distinguishng feature of this species is their marking on the side of their body. These markings are chevron shape or resemble the zig zags of a saw and hence giving them their common name.

Diet

They are known to feed on small fish and crustaceans.

Phalguni Ranjan

White-cheek monocle bream 

( Scolopsis vosmeri )

Habitat

Found in inshore areas where there is sand, mud or rubble close to coral reefs. Usually spotted between the depths of 2 - 25 m.

Description

This species of monocle bream can grow up to a maximum length of about 25 cm. Most of the scales on the body have a dark spot on them, they are maroon-red in colour with their tail and back end of the body coloured in white. Behind their eye, is a white band. However, not much else is known about this species.

Diet

They feed on small invertebrates moving around the ocean floor.

Joydeep Sarkar

Little dragonfish

( Eurypegasus draconis )

Habitat

Spotted in sandy and silty areas in and around lagoons and seagrass ecosystems between 35-90 m.

Description

Displaying fine camouflage, the little dragonfish has a body that is almost impossibe to distinguish between shell or rubble lying on the ocean floor. They do so by having a usually light to dark brown body colour. These fish have a bony armour with males having broad bluish-white fins on their side which they spread when they are stressed or disturbed. Quite small by growing up to only about 10 cm.

Diet

They feed on small invertebrates by ambushing them.

Phalguni Ranjan

Dash-and-dot goatfish 

( Parupeneus barberinus )

Habitat

Spotted around reef flats, lagoons and sandy areas at depths as deep as 100 m.

Description

The dash and dot goatfish, like the rest of the others of its kind have similair extensions or 'barbels'. The body colour of the fish is white and is marked with a black to dark brown coloured stripe or dash from the upper lip going through the eye and going along the body, there is a slight yellow colouring above the stripe. To accompany this, there is also a black spot or dot where the tail meets the rest of the body. It is due to these distinctive markings that they are referred to as the dash and dot goatfish. This species can reach a maximum length of about 60 cm.

Diet

They feed by moving over sediment on the ocean floor and use their barbels to search for prey which include worms, small crustaceans and small fish.

Joydeep Sarkar

Long-barbel goatfish

( Parupeneus macronemus )

Habitat

Found usually resting on corals in lagoons and inshore coral reefs, at a maximum depth of 80 m.

Description

They are greyish in colour on the top of their body with a white to pink tint on their lower body. They exhibit a broad black stripe that stretches from behind their eye to just before their tail. There is also a large black spot that is between where this black stripe ends and where the tail begin. They called so because of their long chin 'barbels' which they use to probe the ocean sand to detect prey or food.

Diet

Feeds on crustaceans and worms.

Joydeep Sarkar

White-margin stargazer

( Uranoscopus sulphureus )

Habitat

Hard to find because of their trait of being submerged in sand or mud with only their eyes visible. They reside in reef flats and are found on the bottom of the ocean floor found as shallow as 5 m to as deep as 350 m.

Description

One of the most enigmatic fish, stargazers are venomous. They have two large venomous spines just above their side fins. Stargazers are called so because of their eyes placed on the top of their head and face upwards resembling that of someone looking to a star filled sky. These species are recognized by their black fin on the top of their body with black spots dispersed all over.

Diet

They eat small fish, crabs and crustaceans. They have an extension that they shake to lure in prey to the vicinity of their mouth and then ambush them.

Phalguni Ranjan

Goldstripe ponyfish

( Karalla daura )

Habitat

Reside at depths between 1-40 m in shallow and muddy areas. You are usually going to spot them in schools.

Description

Displaying a complete silvery colour with a prominent yellow to golden stripe just about the eye going from the head all the way to where the tail connects with the body. Other recognizable features of these species is their black fins on the top of the body along with a small black mark around the mouth.

Diet

They feed on polychaete worms, sponges and crustaceans.

Phalguni Ranjan

Brown dottyback

( Pseudochromis fuscus )

Habitat

Found in and around coral reefs, hiding in crevices and ledges and also swimming amongst the branch of corals. You can spot them at depths between 2-30 m.

Description

The brown dottyback a fish often found in the aquarium trade, is a species that can reach a length of about 10 cm. They can range in colour from bright yellow like this specimen here to a dark brown and sometimes pink also. You are likely to find blue dots on the front half of the body. They are known for their extreme aggressive behaviour towards other fish that might want to eat their prey, this behaviour makes them an aquarist's favourite.

Diet

They are carnivorous and predatory feeding on small coral fish, crustaceans and molluscs.

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