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Moorish Idols are very easy to recognise, with their daytime black, white and yellow colours. They also have a distinctive orange band over the long nose which they poke into cracks and crevices on the reef to feed on coralline algae and sponges. You see the Moorish Idol in ones, twos or large groups in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It's not found in the Northern Red Sea though.
Photo credit Derek Keats (CC BY 2.0).
To reduce their chances of being spotted by nocturnal predators, Moorish Idols change colour at night. The darker hues blend in with the gloom and help to break up their outline.
Photo credit Vincent Kruger (CC BY 1.0).
The common name, Moorish Idol, is said to originate from the Moors of Africa who purportedly believed the fish to be a bringer of happiness. It is the only species in the family Zanclidae.
Moorish Idols mate for life. They live at depths of 3 to 180 m.
Like many fish species, they are moving north from their traditional areas. Up until last year, for example, none were found in the north of the Sea of Cortez, only in the south. Now, however, there are confirmed sightings 200 km north of their previously known limit.
Moorish Idol in the Sea of Cortez. Photo credit Tim Nicholson.
Further Reading:
Coral Reef Fishes, Indo-Pacific and Caribbean J. Fernandez-Rivera Melo et al.
Northernmost Occurrence of Zanclus cornutus (Zanclidae) in the Eastern Pacific (Northern Gulf of California, Mexico) .
Thalassas: An International Journal of Marine Sciences October 2018, Volume 34, Issue 2, pp 301-304
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Photo credits: Tim Nicholson, Jill Studholme, Derek Keats, Vincent Kruger, Aggressor Adventures
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