Symbiotic reef interactions
The sting of Bubble Tip anemones, Entacmaea quadricolor, will often kill small fish as well as most invertebrates. However, many small fish and crustaceans live all their life in between the anemones tentacles.
Why are these creatures not killed by the anemone, and what benefits do they get by staying with the anemone? And how about the anemone, are there any benefits for the anemone, or are the inhabitants mere squatters exploiting the anemone?
The sting of Bubble Tip anemones, Entacmaea quadricolor, will often kill small fish as well as most invertebrates. However, many small fish and crustaceans live all their life in between the anemones tentacles.
Why are these creatures not killed by the anemone, and what benefits do they get by staying with the anemone? And how about the anemone, are there any benefits for the anemone, or are the inhabitants mere squatters exploiting the anemone?
Bubble tip anemone
Bubble tip anemone
Sex on reefs
Grey morays are neither male nor female, they are both at the same time. Other reef fishes change sex with time, and other again keep to their birth sex. The sexes of most other animals are fixed at birth. Why do reef fishes show such an amazing variety of sex changes during life?
Grey morays are neither male nor female, they are both at the same time. Other reef fishes change sex with time, and other again keep to their birth sex. The sexes of most other animals are fixed at birth. Why do reef fishes show such an amazing variety of sex changes during life?
Grey moray
Male or female?
Coral Reef Fishes
The shape, colour and behaviour of coral reef fishes are immensely diverse. Often divers are overwhelmed by this diversity and loose track of what the colours were, how the shape of a fish was, or how the fish behaved.
Simple rules can teach you to quite easily create some order in the diversity, thus being able to be pinpoint species after species of reef fishes. And, to be quite honest, this is a real cool ability to have on a dive boat!
The shape, colour and behaviour of coral reef fishes are immensely diverse. Often divers are overwhelmed by this diversity and loose track of what the colours were, how the shape of a fish was, or how the fish behaved.
Simple rules can teach you to quite easily create some order in the diversity, thus being able to be pinpoint species after species of reef fishes. And, to be quite honest, this is a real cool ability to have on a dive boat!
Different shapes, colours and behaviours of coral reef fishes.
Reef Builders and Basic Reef
Ecology
Some stretches of reef beam with life, showing fantastic colours and shapes of coral formations. Close by there can be areas covered with a single species of coral as well as areas seemingly devoid of life.
Why do we find such an amazing difference in reef appearance in seemingly similar environmental conditions? If you know the answer, which actually is not very complex, you will be able to understand a lot more about the environment you are diving in.
Some stretches of reef beam with life, showing fantastic colours and shapes of coral formations. Close by there can be areas covered with a single species of coral as well as areas seemingly devoid of life.
Why do we find such an amazing difference in reef appearance in seemingly similar environmental conditions? If you know the answer, which actually is not very complex, you will be able to understand a lot more about the environment you are diving in.
Very rich patch of reef close to more
or less desolate reef wall.