Macropharyngodon
| Macropharyngodon | ||||||||||||
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Diamond Junker ( Macropharyngodon bipartitus ), female |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Macropharyngodon | ||||||||||||
| Bleeker , 1862 |
Macropharyngodon is a genus of small junk wrasse (Julidinae). All ten species live in the tropical areas of the Indo-Pacific , some of them endemic to one area.
features
Macropharyngodon species have a relatively high-backed body for junker wrasse. They show a pronounced gender dimorphism , i. H. Females and males look completely different. Young fish are always females. When they become males, they change color within 11 to 90 days. Usually both sexes have a spot pattern, which is why they are also called leopard junkers . They become 10 to 15 centimeters long. The males have long teeth in their upper jaw, which they use to cling to the female when mating.
behavior
The fish live in harem associations with one male and 15 to 20 females at depths of up to fifteen meters above sand or gravel, where they live on invertebrates that live in the ground . They dig themselves into the sand at night, and juvenile fish also flee into the sand for protection.
Reproduction
Mating is initiated by a female ready to spawn, swimming towards the male, turning her stomach towards him, and then suddenly swimming away. This is repeated until the male follows. Spawning always takes place in very strong currents, e.g. B. in reef channels or when the tide changes. The male bites its large canine teeth on the female between the eye and gill cover, both swim very quickly to the surface of the water and release eggs and sperm. Then both sink to the ground and the male releases his partner.
The fish can be kept in not too small and well-kept saltwater aquariums and have already spawned there.
species
- Diamond Junker ( Macropharyngodon bipartitus Smith 1957)
- Coats Leopard Junker ( Macropharyngodon choati Randall 1978)
- Blaupunkt Junker ( Macropharyngodon cyanoguttatus Randall 1978)
- Short-nosed Junker ( Macropharyngodon geoffroy (Quoy & Gaimard 1824))
- Kuiter's Leopard Junker ( Macropharyngodon kuiteri Randall 1978)
- Macropharyngodon marisrubri Randall, 1978
- Leopard Junker ( Macropharyngodon meleagris (Valenciennes 1839))
- Moyers Leopard Junker ( Macropharyngodon moyeri Shepard & Meyer 1978)
- Black Leopard Junker ( Macropharyngodon negrosensis Herre 1932)
- Sequin Junker ( Macropharyngodon ornatus Randall 1978)
- Macropharyngodon pakoko Trottin, Williams & Planes, 2014
- Vivien's Leopard Junker ( Macropharyngodon vivienae Randall 1978)
literature
- Helmut Debelius , Rudie H. Kuiter : Wrasse. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3973-1
- Ewald Lieske, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish of the world , year publisher, 1994, ISBN 3-86132-112-2
- Ellen Thaler : On the behavior of the genus Macropharyngodon , in Koralle No. 10 August / September 2001. ISSN 1439-779X
Web links
- Macropharyngodon on Fishbase.org (English)