Reef Stories
Long Slender Fish!
Dartfish, Jawfish, Sanddivers, Tilefish
Long Slender Fish
Fish Index
Fish
Sharks & Rays
Anenome Fish
Anthias
Angelfish
Batfish
Barracuda & Travallies
Box-, File-& Pufferfiish
Blennies
Butterflyfish
Cardinalfish
Dartfish
Dragonets
Dottybacks
Eels
Flatfish
Frogfish
Gobies
Ghost Pipefish
Hawkfish
Jawfish
Sand-Divers
Scorpionfish
Seahorses
Snappers
Surgeonfish
Sweetlips
Triggerfish
Wrasse
This is not a natural grouping, but a bundle of several unrelated groups of long and generally slender fish. They all disappear into a burrow or sand if danger threatens.
Dartfish and Tilefish can be confused as many species live in similar habitats and are long and thin. The difference is that Tilefish have a single long dorsal fin and dartfish have a double dorsal fin, the front fin in some species being long and pointed.
Jawfish create their own burrows and swim up into the water column briefly to catch prey.
Sand-divers tend to live in large colonies, swimming up above the sand to feed or mate. They dive below the sand at the slightest disturbance.
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Dartfish
Fire Dartfish (Nemateleotris magnifica) with its characteristic white and organce body and it long, thin, erect front dorsal fin, is the best known to divers. Like most of the larger dartfish, it lives in pairs or small groups. They quickly disappear into abandoned or even occupied shrimp goby burrows at the first sign of danger. The Twotone Dartfish (Ptereleotris evides) typically swims in pairs several meters above the reef.
Two genera, Aioliops and Parioglossus are fairly small and not immediately recognisable as dartfish. They hover in groups often close to or over corals.
Tilefish
Tilefish are much like dartfish though totally unrelated. They have a single dorsal fin, often live in pairs and dart into burrows to escape danger. These often very colourful fish are not often seen by divers as the live in coral rubble areas.
Jawfish
Jawfish are long, but relatively robust. The live in burrow systems with several exits that they dig for themselves, moving stones and pebbles with their strong jaws.
They venture out of their burrows, sometimes even into the water column in search of food, but retreat quickly into their burrows at the first sign of danger.
Jawfish are one of the few fish groups in coral reefs that brood the eggs in the mouth of the males. If you are patient and lucky, you might be able to watch their courtship. The males spread their fins and open their mouths wide to impress the females.
Sand-Divers
Sand-Divers are usually seen by divers in large colonies in sandy areas near reefs. They swim just over the sand in groups, often with the males displaying by spreading all their fins, long doral rays and flashing different colours.
At the first sign of danger they dive into the sand. After a while, they poke their eyes out of the sand and if all is clear, swim back up over the sand.
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Dartfish
Dartfish
Fire Dartfish (Nemateleotris magnifica) with its characteristic white and organce body and it long, thin, erect front dorsal fin, is the best known to divers. Like most of the larger dartfish, it lives in pairs or small groups. They quickly disappear into abandoned or even occupied shrimp goby burrows at the first sign of danger. The Twotone Dartfish (Ptereleotris evides) typically swims in pairs several meters above the reef.
Two genera, Aioliops and Parioglossus are fairly small and not immediately recognisable as dartfish. They hover in groups often close to or over corals.
Tilefish
Tilefish
Tilefish are much like dartfish though totally unrelated. They have a single dorsal fin, often live in pairs and dart into burrows to escape danger. These often very colourful fish are not often seen by divers as the live in coral rubble areas.
Jawfish
Jawfish
Jawfish are long, but relatively robust. The live in burrow systems with several exits that they dig for themselves, moving stones and pebbles with their strong jaws.
They venture out of their burrows, sometimes even into the water column in search of food, but retreat quickly into their burrows at the first sign of danger.
Jawfish are one of the few fish groups in coral reefs that brood the eggs in the mouth of the males. If you are patient and lucky, you might be able to watch their courtship. The males spread their fins and open their mouths wide to impress the females.
Sand-Divers
Sand-Divers
Sand-Divers are usually seen by divers in large colonies in sandy areas near reefs. They swim just over the sand in groups, often with the males displaying by spreading all their fins, long doral rays and flashing different colours.
At the first sign of danger they dive into the sand. After a while, they poke their eyes out of the sand and if all is clear, swim back up over the sand.
