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Dusky rubberlips
Dusky rubberlips are oblong fish with pale grey-brown bodies that are darker on top. They have thick lips that become fleshier with age.
Shortspine porcupinefish
Shortspined porcupinefish resemble a stereotypical "puffer fish" that most people can visualise - they have compact, boxy bodies, covered in scales that have been modified into short spines that can stand erect when the porcupinefish inflate their bodies and point backward at other times.
Oval urchin
This urchin appears oval rather than circular when viewed from above. Its body is purple-black, and its long spines range from purple to green, sometimes having white tips.
Clarke's clownfish
Clarke's clownfish are small, orange-black fish with three distinct vertical stripes - one separating the head from the gill cover, one across the fish's posterior, behind their first dorsal fin and one on the peduncle, separating the dark body from the yellow tail. Their snouts are usually orange or pink.These colours vary regionally - in fact, Clarke's clownfish have the greatest colour variation of any clownfish species. For example, ones inhabiting dark anemones tend to be almost completely black, ones from Vanuatu are yellow with only two stripes and, in some groups, the males' yellow tail fins turn white if they undergo a sex-change.Clarke's clownfish have the furthest reaching distribution of any clownfish; they are found throughout the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean, most commonly in the Persian Gulf, west Australian coast, Indonesia, Micronesia, Taiwan and Japan.These clownfish live on coral reefs, in lagoons and on steep rocky reefs no deeper than 60m.Like most clownfish, Clarke's clownfish are immune to the stings of sea anemone tentacles and live amongst these tentacles for protection. The anemones benefit from this symbiotic relationship is protection from small predators and food scraps from the clownfish. There are 10 species of sea anemone known to host clownfish, and Clarke's clownfish have been found to exploit all of them.Clarke's clownfish are omnivores and opportunistically feed on dead anemone tentacles, food scraps, small crustaceans, small fish, zooplankton and algae.Within a group of Clarke's clownfish, a dominance hierarchy is present. All clownfish in a group are male hermaphrodites, except the largest who undergoes a change into a female.Lined wrasse
Lined wrasses are orange-brown in colour with pale longitudinal blue-green lines. Their heads have irregular light blue-green lines.They have opercular flaps with black spots and caudal fins with broad black bars on the posterior part of the fin. Females are distinguished by the white versus yellow band on the base of the tail and males by the lined versus spotted pattern on the body.Lined wrasses inhabit coastal slopes and drop-off areas in small groups and can be found at depths between 20-45m.Picasso triggerfish
The Picasso triggerfish is a robust, grey fish with a unique, notable pattern of stripes giving it the distinct appearance of a painters colour palette - hence its name after the famous painter Pablo Picasso. It's Hawaiian name, humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa, literally means "pig-snouted triggerfish."This pattern has a number of unique elements, that make identifying the Picasso triggerfish easy:Atlantic horseshoe crab
The Atlantic horseshoe crab lives in the shallow waters of the north-western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and in brackish coastal lagoons, where it can reach lengths of up to 60cm.
Red tjor-tjor
Red tjor-tjor are small pink fish of the porgy family that develop rows of reflective blue dots along their flanks as they mature.Their small mouths are equipped with several sharp incisors and two rows of molars, which they use for hunting small, bottom-dwelling invertebrates, such as echinoderms and polychaetes, and small fish, which they can dive up to 250m to find.Tjor-tjor are native to the Western Indian Ocean around South Africa, Madagascar and Mozambique, where they form schools in deep, sandy bays. Here they form an important prey animal for a large number of other species.Spawning season occurs in spring along the KwaZulu-Natal coast near the continental shelf. Larval red tjor-tjor drift as plankton in these waters or sink below the continental shelf to depths of up to 2km. Juvenile tjor-tjor are commonly found taking refuge in shallow bays on the coast of Southern Africa, with the highest abundance observed near Mossel Bay.Smooth flutemouth
The smooth flutemouth is a very elongated fish that has a long filament projecting from its forked tail fin. The filament is lined with sensory pores, and may serve as a long-range sensory system for detecting prey.As a solitary, stealthy predator, the smooth flutemouth blends into the background and approaches its prey head-on. It eats by extending its jaws and engulfing live prey, particularly small fish, crustaceans and squid.It can be found widely in Indo-Pacific regions along shallow, rocky reefs and in the Mediterranean Sea and European waters as an invasive species. In its native waters, it is common on the African east coast, Red Sea and around Pacific islands such as Easter Island, Hawaii, Japan and New Zealand.Bignose unicorn
The bignose unicorn is a large member of the surgeonfish family and, although it is a unicornfish, it does not have the characteristic "horn" seen in many other species. Adults are a deep magenta-grey colour with small vertical blue bars on their sides, small blue spots near their belly and a characteristic, thick blue bar from eye to snout. Juvenile bignose unicorns are a dull yellow-green, with small blue spots and blue lips. They develop their hues of magenta and purple as they mature. This fish is capable of changing it's colour for camouflage and will turn grey-brown when threatened or when resting. The bignose unicorn has a wide range throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans, ranging from the KwaZulu-Natal coast to Japan, the Great Barrier Reef and the Galapagos Islands. Its preferred habitat is deep lagoons and the seaward margins of coral reefs, where they sometimes gather into large groups to feed on small zooplankton, particularly copepods. However, they are mostly solitary and feed on algae growing on the reef.Feather-duster anemone
The feather-duster anemone, a foreigner in South African waters, appears in various forms with a base wider than its column.
Schooling coachman
The schooling coachman is a white fish with two broad vertical black bars - one running across its pectoral fin to the front of its dorsal fin and the other from the tip of its ventral fin to just behind its dorsal fin. The coachman also has a small black bar extending up its forehead from its eye, and yellow pectoral and tail fins. It's most notable feature is the elongated fourth spine of its dorsal fin, leading into a long, white filament that extends far beyond the coachman's tail. The adult schooling coachman grows a short spine in front of each eye.It is no coincidence that this coachman looks very similar to the Moorish idol - both are species of butterflyfish. Their resemblance is so uncanny, that the schooling coachman is commonly called the "poorman's Moorish idol". The Moorish idol is a highly desirable and common fish in home saltwater aquaria (there's even one in Finding Nemo) and the schooling coachman is often sold as a cheaper alternative in petstores.As the name suggests, the schooling coachman commonly lives in large schools. It is common in lagoons and along reef walls on the south-eastern African coast, Red Sea and throughout the Indo-Pacific - even as far as Japan, Hawaii and New Zealand. Although it is found in tropical areas, it tends to prefer deep, cool waters and areas of cold-water upwelling.The schooling coachman is a carnivore, feeding on tiny organisms, particularly zooplankton and has a set of very fine, hair-like teeth (a feature common in butterflyfishes) that enable it to consume organisms that are so small that they are usually passed through the gills of other fish.The juvenile schooling coachman acts as a cleaner fish, picking parasites and bits of dead tissue off of larger fish species and this behaviour is also seen in some populations of adults where suitable client fish are present in abundance.