Mozambique Fish The identifications were only made on the basis of the photographs which is very hazardous for most of the species. As a consequence the Latin names might not be accurate. The books used for the identification are listed: bibliography. |
|||
Click on the pictures to get a closer view
CHONDRICHTHYES, cartilaginous fishes |
|||
OSTEICHTHYES, Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes Anguilliformes, eels |
|||
Family Muraenidae, morays
Echidna nebulosa (Ahl, 1789), snowflake moray, very common in shalow water. |
|||
Muraenidae, morays
Rhinomuraena quaesita Garman, 1888, ribbon moray This fish is first a male and then changes to a female (protandrous hermaphrodite). Juveniles are all black, males have yellow dorsal fin as on the picture and females change to a nearly all yellow color. |
|||
Synodontidae | |||
Antennariidae, frogfishes | |||
Antennariida, frogfishes
Antennarius cf. commerson (Latreille, 1804), black angler living in a sponge: cf. Haliclona sp. |
|||
Syngnathiformes | |||
Syngnathidae, pipefishes and seahorses
Hippocampus cf. histrix Kaup, 1856, spiny seahorse |
|||
Scorpaeniformes | |||
At first, I saw two white spots on the sand (1st photo), then, a touch and the fish appeared !
|
|||
© Copyright 2006 Fiona McIntosh
Scorpaenidae I think it's Taenianotus triacanthus Lacépède, 1802, leaf scorpionfish, not to be confused with the real leaf-fish from the Tetrarogidae family. |
|||
![]() |
|||
Scorpaenidae, Pterois cf. miles (Bloch), devil firefish
|
|||
Perciformes, Labroidei, parrotfishes, rainbowfishes, and wrasses | |||
|
![]() |
|
Pomacentridae
Amphiprion cf. akallopisos Bleeker, 1853, nosestriped anemonefish |
Well, the pictures are terrible but they're here to remind anyone snorkeling South from Fim du Mundo beach to listen carefully. You might hear a strange kind of growl, if you look around you, you'll observe that each time this sound comes, a D. trimaculatus is attacking an other fish. As far as I remember, the agressive D. trimaculatus were not living with anemones as on the photos.
Wilson reports that threespot damsellfish (from the Caribbean) "cultivates" a small algal crop and defend it vigorously by "erecting fins, striking postures, making popping or cliking sounds...". Might be that our D. trimaculatus are defending their crops ! |
Perciformes, Percoidei | ||
Perciformes, Blennioidei, blennies | |||
This fish is really a nice one for a photographer: always in the same hole, motionless ! As it's rather small, living in shallow water in a place with waves, I had trouble to focus and had to come back for a few day: the fish was always at the rendez-vous !
In a narrow hole (in fact a worm tube) an other Aspidontus is living, more shy, I wasn't able to take a picture ofvit. Aspidontus taeniatus is known to live in pair. Aspidontus taeniatus imitates the cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus. Wilson reports that the blenny imitates its model so well that it's nearly indistinguishable from it in both appearance and swimming habits. The blenny, instead of cleaning the victim will bite and consume pieces of its fins. |
|||
Perciformes, Gobioidei , gobies | |||
Tetraodontiformes | |||
Last update |
© Copyright 2006 Sophie Valtat
|
||