Sweetlips and grunts
| Sweetlips and grunts | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blue stripe grunt ( Haemulon sciurus ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Haemulidae | ||||||||||||
| Gill , 1885 |
The sweetlips and grunts (Haemulidae) ( Syn .: Pomadasyidae) are a family of perch relatives (Percomorpha). All species live in the sea, in rocky and coral reefs , many also go into brackish water and very rarely in fresh water. The different species are eleven centimeters to one meter long.
features
Sweetlips and grunts resemble the sea bream and snappers with their laterally compressed bodies. Their head profile is usually convex, the lips often thick. Sweet lips often have gorgeous, candy-like colors. Juveniles and adults often have very different colors. Your dorsal fin is continuous, the first part has very strong spine rays .
Fin formula : Dorsal IX – XIV / 11–26, Anale III / 6–18
Way of life
Sweetlips and grunts are mostly nocturnal animals. During the day, however, they can often be observed in groups near coral blocks , usually under small overhangs or in caves while resting. They are not very shy and only avoid them when you get very close to them. Young animals not only have different colors, but also different behaviors. So they are usually loners. Sweetlips and grunts mostly feed on bottom invertebrates.
Systematics
The family is divided into two subfamilies:
- The sweetlips (Plectorhinchinae), which live in the Indian Ocean , the western Pacific and the eastern Atlantic .
- The grunt or pigfish (Haemulinae), from the western Atlantic and the eastern Pacific .
There are around 140 species in total .
literature
- Joseph S. Nelson : Fishes of the World . John Wiley & Sons, 2006, ISBN 0-471-25031-7
- Kurt Fiedler: Textbook of Special Zoology, Volume II, Part 2: Fish . Gustav Fischer Verlag Jena, 1991, ISBN 3-334-00339-6
- Sanciangco, M., LA Rocha% KE Carpenter: A molecular phylogeny of the Grunts (Perciformes: Haemulidae) inferred using mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Zootaxa 2966: 37-50. 2011 PDF
Web links
- Sweetlips and Grunts on Fishbase.org (English)