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The Cape knifejaw is a dark, oval shaped fish that can grow to almost a meter in length. Their colouration is generally a dark grey, with lighter coloured mouths and underparts. Juvenile Cape knifejaws are bright yellow, with black, vertical bands over their eye and in front of their tail. The knifejaw’s teeth are fused to form a beak-like structure. They are omnivores and feed on a variety of food sources around near-shore reefs. Their beak is used to break up sea squirts, sponges and red algae. Cape knifejaws become territorial when they mature and form pairs that hunt together. The Cape knifejaw is endemic to South Africa, ranging from False Bay to Thukela. Cape knifejaws are on the SASSI Red list.

The Jacopever is a distinctive fish, its colour is highly variable, usually with pink-red blotches and irregular dark patches that form excellent camouflage in deep water. Their short, but stock bodies are protected by sharp spines along their dorsal fins and pectoral fins. It is an ambush predator that uses its cryptic colouration and the darkness of the depths at which it lives to ambush smaller fish and invertebrates that swim past it. Its spines contain venom that is used to protect the jacopever from larger predators. Venom is known to be harmful to humans. This fish lives at great depths on sandy continental slopes, ranging from 50m to over 1km in water depth. Jacopevers are widely distributed throughout the Atlantic, ranging from South Africa to Venezuaela, Iceland and the Mediterranean Sea. The jacopever is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Due to its procurement as bycatch of unsustainable trawling methods, this is a SASSI Red listed species in South Africa and should not be eaten.

The baardman, sometimes called the slender baardman, is a dark brown fish, with a curved dorsal fin and short barb on the bottom of its chin. As a juvenile it displays large white patches on its dorsal surface that darken with age. The baardman hunts invertebrates, such as polychaete, worms on sandy sea floors. The baardman inhabits the western Indian Ocean, feeding on ocean-floor invertebrates. It is a resident species, rarely venturing far from its home territory – it often establishes a home cave in limestone or sandstone reefs. The baardman is on the WWF SASSI Red list.

The barred flagtail is a small species, with five characteristic dark stripes on its forked tail that can sometimes be traced across its silver body. It has two small spines on its gill covers which deter some predators from eating it. It is common in the waters of KwaZulu-Natal where it feeds on small crustaceans and small fish. Juvenile flagtails can sometimes be seen in shallow tidal pools. This fish forms tightly packed shoals that regularly travel in lagoons and brackish water. Barred flagtails are classified as Least Concern by the IUCN.

The santer is an oval-shaped fish, with a silver-pink body and poorly defined vertical pink bands on its sides that are particularly indistinct on adults. Its pectoral fins are pale blue. This fish is a predator, hunting smaller fish, crustaceans and squid along the southern African East Coast to the Cape of Good Hope. Santers that are line-caught in South Africa are listed as Orange by WWF-SASSI, while those caught in Mozambique are Red. This species is best avoided while stocks recover.

The white kingfish is a large fish with a silver-grey body that can take on a green tint on the fish’s upper side, and a yellow band that runs along its lateral line. Schools of white kingfish inhabit coastal waters across the Atlantic Ocean – from the United States and Spain to South Africa. It prefers to shoal over reefs, where it spawns during winter. Young white kingfish typically hunt small invertebrates and fish using suction (just like seahorses) The IUCN status of the white kingfish is Least Concern.

The seventy-four is a beautiful fish, with a pinkish head and belly, silver-yellow body and four to six iridescent blue stripes running horizontally across its sides. On each side, above its pectoral fin, is a conspicuous black spot. It is primarily a piscivore, feeding on smaller fish such as sardines and mullet, but will also eat squid and crustaceans if available. Juvenile seventy-fours feed exclusively on tiny invertebrates. Due to overfishing in the 1960s, the seventy-four now faces extinction in the wild. Thanks to a total ban on fishing, and proper management of its ecosystem, its numbers are slowly recovering. The seventy-four is Critically Endangered, the most severe rating on the IUCN Red List. It is also Red on the WWF-SASSI List.

Brown burnies are rather drab compared to other butterflyfish. Other than a dull yellow head they are almost entirely brown. Even their eye bar, characteristic of butterflyfish, is brown. They are solitary, but sometimes pair up for hunting when they pursue small invertebrates. The brown burnie is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN and has a stable population.

The skunk cleaner shrimp is a member of the Lysmata genus, a group of shrimps notable for their symbiotic relationships with other species, such as moray eels. Cleaner shrimps commonly designate a specific part of their reef as a ‘cleaning station’, where they perform a simple dance. This dance signals to passing fishes that the shrimp is available to perform cleaning services such as removing parasites and dead tissue. Commonly these shrimps cohabitate with large fish, such as groupers or moray eels, in crevasses or caves, the fish will protect the shrimp in return for the health benefits. The shrimp are omnivorous, and are quite capable of hunting other invertebrates (including rival cleaner shrimps), but usually only do so when there is competition for resources. Skunk cleaner shrimps are characterised by their long white antennae. As they mature, a white stripe develops along the back of their carapace, dividing two vivid red bands. Unfortunately for the skunk shrimp, their poor eyesight and colour-blindness has led scientists to believe that they are unable see each other’s beautiful patterns. The adult skunk cleaner shrimp carries its eggs in a set of arms (pleopods) under its body. The eggs hatch into larvae that free-float as plankton, hunting other planktonic animals until taking a more mature shrimp form. All skunk shrimps start life as males, but become functional hermaphrodites once fully mature. It is believed that skunk cleaner shrimps are monogamous, and spend their entire lives with a single mate. These mates will take turns protecting the other when they moult, and will also alternate male and female roles between breeding cycles. The skunk cleaner shrimp has not yet been assessed for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The old woman angelfish is regarded as a rather dull looking fish. It is a bronze-brown colour with paler hindquarters. Juveniles of the species have blue vertical bars, which they lose at maturity. The old woman angelfish lives in small groups near the coast (east coast of Africa), feeding on algae and seafloor invertebrates. Juveniles remain in tidal pools or are swept away by the Agulhas current. The old woman angelfish is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN and has a stable population.

The vagabond butterflyfish is identifiable by its complex colour pattern. Vertical black bands run across its eyes and between its tail and body. Eight thin, black stripes run from its dorsal fin to its face, and fourteen more stripes intercept these from its sides. It is visually similar to the closely related threadfin butterflyfish, but lacks the eyespot and dorsal fin filament. Vagabond butterflyfish inhabit lagoons, reefs and river mouths across Africa’s east coast, the Red Sea and Japan. These butterflyfish form monogamous pairs that defend their feeding territory. Together the duo search for worms, algae and crustaceans to supplement their omnivorous diet. IUCN status is Least Concern with stable populations.

Threadfin butterflyfish have predominantly white faces and bodies, with yellow hindquarters. They display a thick black stripe across their eyes, and a black eyespot is present on the dorsal fin. Mature adults have a small, yellow trailing filament on their dorsal fins. Threadfin butterflyfish inhabit the slopes of coral reefs, and their colouration varies depending on where they originate. For example, those found in the Red Sea do not have an eyespot. These fish usually stay in a pairs while hunting small invertebrates such as shrimp, but the species is omnivorous and will scavenge if food is scarce. IUCN status is Least Concern, but its populations are decreasing.