When you spend as much time as we do in the water, fish become almost part of the family, their funny little faces the wallpaper of our life. Coral reef fish are so diverse that you always see something new, and when you really look at them, many fish look so weird that it is hard not to find them funny.
Following are some of our favourites, the little colourful, funny, odd or downright menacing faces we encounter day after day.
The funny:
I know I’m a bit of a fanatic, but the thing about reef fish is that some of them just look so ridiculous that it beggars belief. The huge cataracty eyes of porcupine fish, the nervous kissy mouths of puffers, the bulging eyes ruining the disguise of spadefish – they are so ludicrous that it is hard to take them seriously. Same with the body shapes – I can respect a tuna or a shark, but what gave rise to the strange non-streamlined boxfishes, the triangular and strangely tail-fin-less tobys, and the insanely stretched expanse of cornetfish? And although I’m sure carefully evolved and incredibly adaptive, fish behaviour is really downright strange sometimes. Why does the trumpetfish think that hanging upside down renders it invisible? And the spadefish, carefully turning as you swim around them, trying to keep their slim side exposed rather than the expanse of their huge fins – it obviously works with predators, but really?
Evil lurkers:
Menacing predators with upturned mouths, bulging eyes and frilly eyelashes disguised as bits of coral or sponge are everywhere on the reef and given our untrained eyes, I’m sure we only spot a fraction of them.
The terrified:
Most reef fish are prey and as a result many are nervous and skittery, fleeing the moment they see you to hide in expanses of corals or anemones or under dark ledges. Their huge eyes add to the general impression of a life lived in a state of near-constant panic.
The beautiful:
And then of course there are all the beautiful fish – the dazzlingly colourful, the intricately patterned, the insanely elegant, which combine to make coral reefs so stunning.
SV Bob The Cat 