THE CHECKLIST
Ordinary Fish
Text and images by GILL MCDONALD
Triggerfish
Blue triggerfish (Pseudobalistes fuscus). There are
over 40 species of triggerfish, a very few of which
are pelagic, so if you have dived on a coral reef you
will definitely have seen some. This handsome chap
is a large, blue triggerfish in the Egyptian Red Sea.
The triggerfish family range from about six up to 55
centimetres with one exception: The stone triggerfish
can reach up to one metre. Both the titan and
Picasso triggerfish vigorously defend their nests, with
their territory extending upwards in a cone. If you
encounter an aggressive one, swim away horizontally.
Soldierfish
Bigeye soldierfish (Myripristis
kuntee) are nocturnal fish
which hide in dark areas in the
day, emerging at night to feed
upon large zooplankton and
small fish. There are a great
many different types and they
are often difficult to distinguish
from one another. Soldierfish
are mostly red or pink with big
eyes for low-visibility vision,
and an oval shape. Squirrelfish
are in the same family but
thinner with a pointed head and
horizontal stripes.
Anthias
Orange anthias (Pseudanthias squamipinnis).
This chap has many names: It’s also known as
sea goldie, lyretail coralfish, lyretail anthias and
scalefin anthias. They comprise the subfamily
Anthiinae as members of the family Serranidae
(basses, basslets, groupers). Anthias can shoal
by the thousands and make up a very large
portion of the population of pink, orange,
and yellow reef fishes seen swarming in most
underwater images or films. All anthias are
born female; when a dominant male dies, the
largest female of the group will often change
into a male to take its place.
SDOP
8
Angelfish
Regal angelfish (Pygoplites diacanthus). There are
around 100 different angelfish species, wi th two
main types – freshwater and marine. The marine
reef angelfish are often curious towards divers.
Some are solitary by nature whereas other species
form territorial mating pairs or even groups. The
groups usually have one male and a number of
females. They are of the family Pomacanthidae
and cruise around shallow reefs in tropical
Atlantic, Indian and Pacific seas.