Reef fish
Clownfish, wrasses, parrotfish, surgeonfish, angelfish and butterflyfish. 13 fish on EveryFish so far.
Reef fish is not a scientific group but a way of life: the many families of fish that live on and around coral reefs. Damselfish and clownfish, wrasses, parrotfish, surgeonfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, gobies, groupers and snappers make up most of them. Reefs cover far less than one per cent of the sea floor but hold roughly a quarter of all marine fish species, packed together in a small space.
Living together
Reef fish divide the reef finely. Parrotfish and surgeonfish graze algae and keep it from smothering corals. Butterflyfish pick at coral polyps. Cleaner wrasses run cleaning stations where bigger fish come to have parasites removed. Clownfish shelter among stinging anemones, and many reef fish change sex during their lives. Bright colours serve as signals, warnings and camouflage among the bright corals. Most reef fish lay eggs that drift as larvae for weeks before settling on a reef.
Trade and threats
Reef fish feed millions of people in coastal villages of the tropics. The aquarium trade takes many species from the wild, and the film Finding Nemo in 2003 raised demand for clownfish, though most clownfish sold are now bred in captivity. Groupers and humphead wrasse are taken for the live reef fish trade of East Asia. Bleaching from marine heatwaves, overfishing, blast and cyanide fishing, and pollution are the main threats.
Still to be written: Ocellaris clownfish, Orange clownfish, Humphead wrasse, Green humphead parrotfish, Moorish idol, Synchiropus splendidus, Bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Paracanthurus.
Further reading
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Garibaldi: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Squirrelfish: This photo has been taken by Matthieu Sontag (User:Mirgolth) and relea, CC BY-SA 3.0, source