The Yellowhead hulafish, or Yellow-headed pretty fin as it is also known, is a small schooling fish often found under jetties or on rocky reefs. It is endemic to the temperate waters of Southern and Western Australia. This relatively small species reaches a length of only four inches and can be found in large schools. The Yellowhead hulafish is named for the yellow coloring on its head and its dancing like movements in the water.
Like many wrasses, this relative of the popular red snapper undergoes remarkable changes in colors and fin shape as it reaches adulthood, but it remains quite striking throughout this process. While the long-finned youngsters have a simple but attractive geometric pattern, the short-fined adults, which can reach two feet, are festooned in electric blue stripes that have earned them the name of Chinese gown fish in Australia. This fish has a wide distribution in the Indo-Pacific.
While juvenile and adult Harlequin tusk fish look very similar to each other, many other wrasses undergo astounding transformations as they reach maturity. As a juvenile, this Indo-Pacific species presents a dainty appearance, with a lacy-looking pattern and fins. The formidable adults are powerful fish that work in teams, taking turns lifting rocks and coral and grabbing the animals they find.
This wrasse stands out in a family well known for garish patterns and colors. Its blue teeth accent the startling combination of red, white, and yellow. It can be found from Japan to Australia, where it is sometimes called a Macaw fish. Until the 1970s it was very rare in aquariums. For a large wrasse, it is rather well behaved in community displays.
While many surgeonfish draw attention with brilliant colors, this gray fish stands out for its bizarre shape, appearing as if it had a “nose”. Feeding on algae and plankton in the wild, it enjoys lettuce and other leafy greens in aquariums. It can be found in schools from the Red Sea to many islands in the Pacific, including Hawaii, where it is a traditional food fish. Like other surgeonfish, it has defensive “scalpels” on its tail, but they are especially noticeable with this species because they are blue.
Parrotfish are named for their brilliant colors and their beaks, formed by many teeth fused together in a mosaic. Once classified in their own family, the 90 or so species are now considered highly specialized wrasses. They are a vital component of the ecology of coral reefs, pulverizing coral to extract algae and producing vast amounts of sand. Of the fourteen species found off North America, the Blue parrotfish, found widely in the Caribbean, is one of the most recognizable, adult males being solidly blue. Almost all parrotfish begin life as females.
Reaching a length of a foot-and-a half and weighing less than five pounds, this is one of the smaller members of the Jack family, which includes such well-known game fishes as the Amberjack, as well as the Yellowtail featured in Sushi bars. Despite its small size, it is considered delicious, like its relative the Pompano. It is found in large schools in the Tropical Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico and is common along the Texas coast. The peculiar head structure which gives it its name, has made it popular as a public aquarium animal for many years.
Easily growing over a foot in length, this is one of the most popular fishes with divers in the Bahamas, Florida, and other places in the Tropical Atlantic. It is a typical sight in Texas’ Flower Garden Banks sanctuary. While adults are black with golden edging to their scales, juveniles have a pattern of broad yellow bands, which serve a “Barber’s Pole” purpose, since young French angels are “cleaners” of much larger fishes that do not harm them. Adults eat mostly sponges. This has been a favorite aquarium exhibit for more than a century.
One of the first salt water tropical fishes to be kept in aquariums, this beautiful fish was exhibited live by P.T. Barnum (of circus fame) at his American Museum in New York in the 1860s and has remained a popular species in public aquariums ever since. In the 1930s, the New York Aquarium sent specimens all the way by ship to East London, in South Africa, in exchange for turkeyfish. In parts of its extensive range in the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Tropical Western Atlantic, it is a food fish. Its wild diet is almost exclusively sponges.
Though dwarfed by its six-foot long, 300-pound Pacific relative, the Napoleon wrasse, at nearly three feet, and over 20 pounds, the hogfish is the largest wrasse in the Caribbean. Like the Napoleon Wrasse, it is threatened by overfishing. Considered delicious, it is a prime target for spear fisherman. It is classified as Vulnerable to Extinction over its range from Bermuda to Brazil. It remains abundant in some habitats, such as the Florida Keys. Its powerful jaws and teeth equip it to consume crabs, sea urchins and mollusks.
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