Search

The spinecheek is a sleek, silver fish with a darker, spotted upper body. From its face, extending to its dorsal and caudal fins, are several pearly white stripes with blue iridescence.Paleband spinecheeks inhabit shallow, sandy-bottomed waters near coral reefs. They are common along the East African coast, ranging from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf to South Africa.They have good eyesight and are proficient predators, feeding on crustaceans, sea stars and smaller fish. Their habit of swimming rapidly, then coming a sudden stop before moving off again enables them to better survey their surroundings.Their scientific name, Scolopsis ghanam, means "looks like a worm from Ghana". This is a misnomer, as the monocle bream is not found in Ghanaian waters.

This is a small, elongated fish with a light brown or tan body. It has a dark brown to black strip that runs from the tip of its snout to its peduncle, crossing its large, dark eyes. It has a black eye spot at the base of its tail fin. With maturity the first ray of their dorsal fin turns bright yellow, whereas very young iridescent cardinals (like the one pictured) retain some yellow-green colouring on their head and belly.Viewed under artificial light, their iridescent shades of blue and green are visible on their body.Iridescent cardinalfish inhabit clear waters surrounding reefs, where they take shelter in small caves and overhangs. At night they emerge to feed on small swimming and bottom-dwelling crustaceans.These cardinalfish are solitary animals, only pairing briefly to spawn.Iridescent cardinalfish have a wide range, from the Red Sea and South Africa to New Zealand, Japan and Hawaii.

The threeband cardinal is a very small fish. It has a semi-transparent, pink tinted body with two stripes on each side, one from eye to anal fin and one from forehead to tail, and a stripe along their dorsal surface. These stripes are not present in all specimens, however, and can appear is various combinations, or be absent entirely.The threeband cardinal is solitary and cryptic, spending most of its time well hidden in rocky reefs. It pairs up only for reproduction, and pairs will protect each other while mouthbrooding eggs.This cardinal is carnivorous and will prey on smaller fish and zooplankton, hunting in the evening.They have a wide range, found along the East African coast between KwaZulu-Natal and the Red Sea, but also ranging into the Pacific where it is found on the coasts of Australia and Japan.

The ocean sunfish is a large, grey-blue, oval-bodied fish with prominent and powerful dorsal and anal fins, but no tail fin. This gives the sunfish the appearance of only being "half a fish." Despite its unusual appearance, it is an active swimmer and is highly manoeuvrable. They are the largest bony fish in the ocean - growing up to 3m in length and approximately 2000kg in weight. Ocean sunfish have relatively small mouths, with fused teeth that give it a parrot-like beak. The beak is internal and hidden from view except when feeding. They use this beak to feed of jellyfish and salps, but will opportunistically feed on squid, fish, crustaceans and brittle stars. Their skin is covered with a tough armour of dermal denticles, similar to that of sharks and rays. Sunfish get their name because of their habit of basking on their sides on the ocean’s surface. This is done to help regulate their body temperatures, as these fish can dive to well over 600m - into frigid waters. Ocean sunfish are found in all the oceans of the world, excluding the icy polar seas.

The semicircle angelfish is a narrow, oblong fish with a greenish-yellow or yellow-brown body covered in dark blue spots everywhere excepts its face and pectoral fins. It has a vivid blue margin on its fins, gill covers and eye. Juveniles are black with white, semi-circular lines radiating out from its tail - and from this pattern it gets its name. In adult semicircle angelfish, both the dorsal and anal fins are tailed by bright blue or yellow filaments.Semicircle angelfish are solitary, inhabiting coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They hunt various small zooplankton. Juveniles are found in rock pools and in the waters of the Agulhas current.

The crescent-tail wrasse is a brilliant green-blue with an oblong body with a rounded pink head that has irregular blue stripes. Adult males are a greenish-blue with a striking yellow crescent-shaped tail. Females and juveniles have blue bellies and purple vertical stripes on their flanks. These wrasses are found on coral reefs throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They stay in small groups, searching for small invertebrates to feed on.

The orange-spine unicorn is a narrow, rounded fish with an angular head. It is an olive-brown colour, with an orange belly and yellow forehead and dorsal fin. Its tail is forked and it has bony orange spines that protrude from its peduncle. Orange-spine unicorns feed on brown algae throughout the Indo-Pacific reefs.

The raccoon butterflyfish has notable black and white bands across its head and face, forming a raccoon-like pattern from where it draws its name. Its yellow body is covered by brown-orange stripes. There is a black eye spot on its tail peduncle, and all fins are edged by an orange-brown margin. Racoon butterflyfish form pairs and prey on coral polyps.

The redfang triggerfish has a blue, kite-shaped body and prominent red teeth. It has a moon-shaped, forked tail which is pale blue. When threatened, the triggerfish can lock the first two spines of its dorsal fin together to prevent predators from swallowing it.

Sailfin tangs have compressed, disc-like bodies with flattened fins that they are able to rapidly open to increase their apparent size. They are pale in colour, with alternating dark and light grey vertical bars. Their face has small pale spots and their rear-end has narrow yellow stripes. These tangs form pairs and inhabit coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. They scavengers, searching for fragments of algae and detritus.

Moorish idols are strikingly beautiful. They have thick black and white vertical stripes and finer yellow colourations on their face and rears. Most notable are the elongated white dorsal fins, which extend far beyond their tails. Although very similar in appearance to some species of butterflyfish, the Moorish idol can be easily distinguished by its black, triangular anal fin. Moorish idols hunt small invertebrates along coral and rocky reefs using their pronounced snouts. They also feed on sponges and coral polyps. Adult Moorish idols develop bony protrusions above each eye. As they age, the elongated dorsal spine becomes shorter. After hatching, Moorish idols have a comparatively long larval stage during which the young fish live in the open ocean. This long period of time allows the larvae to spread widely. This makes the Moorish idol quite unusual, as it has almost no geographic variations in its colouring. Moorish idols got their name from the Moors, an ancient African civilization who believed this fish was a source of happiness. The Moorish idol’s IUCN status is Least Concern with stable populations.

Emperor angelfish are large reef fish, with compressed bodies and a multitude of yellow and blue horizontal stripes along their sides. Their mouths are light blue or white and their eyes and gill covers are coloured dark blue with pale blue borders. Their gill covers each have a prominent spike. Juveniles are dark blue with blue and white rings.One of the reasons for this difference is that adults are very territorial and fight with one another. Because the juveniles have a different colour and pattern they are allowed into adult territory. It takes 24 to 30 months for an emperor angelfish to obtain its adult colouring.The emperor angelfish hunts small invertebrates, or forages on sponges in coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.