Voltar

Blackeye rabbitfish

Biology

The blackeye rabbitfish has a small mouth with a peculiar shape, especially adapted to scrape algae and sponges from the rocks, from which it feeds. On its fins, it has poisonous spines that cause deep and painful wounds.

Conservation

Coral reefs occur in only one percent of the total area occupied by the oceans, but 25 percent of all fish species can only be found in those reefs. They inhabit areas poor in nutrients where the water is more translucent, allowing better light penetration. They are threatened by pollution, overfishing, physical destruction by ship traffic, and climate change. If the coral’s destruction continues at the present rate, 70 percent of the world’s reef will disappear within 50 years from now.

Curiosities

It lives in shallow lagoons and coral reefs, where they swim in pairs.