Although sometimes ruddy or reddish in coloration, the ruddy fusilier can also be bluish silver. This fusilier has red or black tips on the tail lobes and has a thin, brown to black mid-lateral stripe.
Variable colors but most commonly shades of brown. Covered in numerous small spots on head and forebody. Brown striped area toward rear of body.
This small damselfish is variable in color (commonly pale mauve or black in Fiji) but always retains a yellow nose and a large, black spot on the middle of the dorsal fin. Talbot’s demoiselle has yellow pelvic fins as well.
In the TP, the crescent wrasse has a yellow “crescent moon” on its tail fin. This wrasse is blue and green in coloration, with purple and green bands on the head. Its pectoral fins have a broad pinkish purple band. The IP look similar but do not have the yellow crescent moon.
The redfin butterflyfish is orange-yellow in coloration and has purple oblique stripes. Its anal fin is reddish in color. Both the base of the anal fin and tail fin are lined with a black band.
Many of you know that REEF helps out sea-dwelling creatures, but you may not know that we also help prepare our future land-dwelling leaders to deal with issues facing our marine ecosystems. Meet the faces of our Marine Conservation Internship Program! Every four months, REEF invites hundreds of applicants to compete for four internship positions. The chosen interns implement community outreach and education programs focused on reef fish identification and lionfish handling and collection. Interns also dive and volunteer with partner organizations in the Florida Keys.
The bullethead is identified by its symmetrical bullet-shaped head; the area above and below the beak-like mouth is the same. The TP is variable in coloration but will generally have a green body with lavander scale edges and some orange or yellow wash on the sides or cheeks. The key markings on the very different looking IP are the light head, dark body, often with rows of small white spots on the back part of the body and/or a pale tail that has a dark spot in the center.
This bannerfish can be distinguished from other species in the area by the hump on the head. Also, the humphead bannerfish has two white bands that frame a brown triangular area on the body.
Unique to this species of surgeonfish are the orange tail spines and anal fin. The orangespine unicornfish is brown or gray in coloration, has a yellow forehead, and a black band at the base of the dorsal fin. Unlike some other species of unicornfish, this species lacks a horn. Males will develop long trailing filaments from each corner of the tail.
A pair of wide, black, diffuse bars, or “double saddle”, is how you can distinguish this butterflyfish from others. The Pacific double-saddle butterflyfish is white with thin, black lines on the body. The back fourth of the body is bright yellow and has a black spot at the base of the tail fin.