typhlonectes:

The Tiny Fish Awards!

– Cryptobenthic Reef Fishes

by Joe Dawson

Go snorkeling on a coral reef, and you’ll have a hard time not being
impressed by the abundance and variety of the fish there. But the fish
most divers see make up less than half of the number (and less than half
the species) of fish on the reef.

Cryptobenthic reef fishes comprise
the other half. These fish are small, usually less than 2 inches in
length, and hide in coral habitats, either by appearance or by their
behavior. Even scientists have been slow to start searching for them,
but cryptobenthics are turning up in about every reef habitat where
scientists have bothered to look!

In the June 5 issue of Current Biology, SERC Scientist Simon Brandl and colleague Christopher Goatley of the University of New England published a quick guide
to cryptobenthic reef fishes. Brandl thinks that these little fishes
deserve more recognition, and we agree! Therefore, we’re happy to
present these honorees with the following awards…

Read more: SERC – Shorelines

photographs:
John E. Randall/Hawaii Biological Survey;
Goatley and Brandl 2017;
Simon Brandl/SERC