Decorated fish
Some of the most beautiful fish in the world live among coral reefs.
Coral reefs are rocky formations that look like lovely, underwater rock
gardens. They are found near the shore in warm, tropical seas. There you
will find colorful butterfly fish, triggerfish, angelfish, and many
others.
All of these fish have patterns of color that look as if they were
painted by an artist. And they are perfectly fitted for life among the
reefs. Some of them have body shapes that make it easy for them to swim
in and out among the coral, and to hide in small openings. Their
brightly colored patterns may make it hard for other fish to see them up
against the coral, or may help fish of the same kind to recognize one
another.
Butterfly fish and angelfish are \”loners” that usually swim by
themselves. Both these kinds of fish have a very small, pushed-out
mouth. This kind of mouth is a perfect shape for poking into cracks in
the coral to pick out little shrimps and worms that hide there. Some
angelfish are as much as two feet (60 centimeters) long. Most butterfly
fish are only six to eight inches (15 to 20 cm) in length.
moorish idol
The brightly colored, oval-shaped triggerfish has stickers, or spines,
on its back. One spine is long and sharp, and the triggerfish can make
it stand up straight. When this happens, the second spine, which is
small, bends forward and locks the long spine in place—much the way an
old-fashioned pistol was cocked.
When a triggerfish is in danger, it darts into a narrow crack in a coral
reef and lifts its spine. This wedges it in so that an enemy can’t get
it out.
Surgeonfish have a sharp \”knife” on each side of their body, just in
front of the tail. If a surgeonfish is attacked by another fish, the
surgeonfish tries to move alongside the enemy and slash it! The knife is
almost as sharp as the knives that doctors called surgeons use in
operations, which is how this fish got its name.
Surgeonfish are usually as brightly colored as most other reef fish.
Some have a bright blue body, purple spots on the head, and a bright
yellow tail. Others have a white body decorated with splashes of yellow,
with rows of thin black stripes on the sides. But these fish often
change their colors during the day, and even put on a special
\”nightgown” color at sunset.
There are many other colorful fish among the coral reefs. The Moorish
idol has broad black and white stripes, and a startling spot of yellow
on its nose. And the spotted and speckled and striped groupers have
often- changing colors. All of these beautifully colored fish truly turn
the coral reefs into underwater fairylands.
