Bird Nose Wrasse

Visitor: "You know that blue fish...?"

Staff: "Ahh yes, it's the bird nose wrasse."

Everyone knows the blue fish that is Dory from Finding Nemo (Regal Tang), the small devil damsels and yellow tail damsels are also blue fish, and even though they look pretty, no one wants to know about them.

But this blue fish; the bird nose wrasse (Gomphosus varius) gets a lot of enquirers and look at it!

Why wouldn't it?

Many people are just content knowing the name of this fish, though many more want to know "What's up with that nose?" This species has a long snout, you may make out that it looks a growth is growing on that snout. It's really common for these fish to develop tumors on their nose, this happens in the wild also. They have long snouts because they use them to stick between rocks and crevices to pick away at any crustaceans like small crabs hiding away in there. Rocks and crevices can be sharp which irritates their nose causing this growth. You may be wondering if it's serious. It can be but only if the growth interrupts their feeding. 

As you can see this is a nice healthy fish, he eats well and isn't skinny. We do have the option to operate if the growth becomes a problem, we have a vet that can perform the operation if the need be. But, there's nothing to worry about for now. He's a fine strong healthy fish that enjoys his food. He's doing fine. I say "he" because this blue fish is a boy.

You can tell if the bird nose wrasse is a boy or a girl just by the colour. The blue ones are boys, the pinky/orange/browny ones are girls:

It would be pretty easy to look at this fish and decide it was a different species altogether. But no, she's a bird nose wrasse who hasn't developed a tumor. Both swim together in our Lagoon tank.

Not the information you were looking for? Try Fishbase.org

Anthias

Going back onto our tropical fish now, because there are a few to get through, up next is this little fella...

I'm sorry, I mean lady. This is a female anthias. And below is the male. 

This is the sort of picture that would make fish enthusiasts or even just someone looking for a nice fish picture weep. It also makes me question my decision to take photos of the animals with my phone and not ask for a hot shot photographer. But nah, it's charming isn't it? I like to think so. Enough about my life. Let's talk about the fish.

I've been introduced to these fish as "anthias" and I know them by their binomial name Pseudanthias squamipinnis, other people know these fish as "Sea Goldie". But enough about their life. Let's talk about the fish.

This species shows sexual dimorphism, that means you can look at these fish and tell which ones a male anthias and which is a female anthias. There are a lot of marine animals where just having a quick look won't do, some you have to chop open to see, but these guys have made it easier for us.

The females are orange and a little smaller, they have a neon-punk style violet streak below their eye. My photo will never do it justice, a photo from wikipedia will though:

The males are a bit bigger, about one and a half times as big as the females, this is my casual observation- it's not science. The males are a wicked fuchsia colour, and have an elongated ray on their dorsal fin. You can sort of make it out in my photo. Though I know it's there so I can see it. I will find you a better one. Wikipedia once again.

Males also have fancy tail fins. It's hard to explain, but they're  more pointy and elegant than the females.

My favourite thing about these fish are that they are sequential hermaphrodites. This is why animals and nature are just mind blowingly-amazingly-supercalifragiciously awesome! Anthias are protogynous hermaphrodites, this means all anthias are born female but some have the ability to change their sex into male. Lots of fish live in harems (anime nerds may be familiar with a harem), a harem is a group consisting of many females to one male. You'll have about 5-10 female anthias all sharing the one male anthias. If that male dies, and they're male-less, one of the females in the group will change their sex and become the male to the harem, and help produce more babies. There are other types of sequential hermaphrodites, and there is a very popular fish that I'm not going to give away just yet... but when I talk about them, you will find out. *wink*

Not the information you were looking for? Try FishBase.org