Anthia…the Abundant Fish of the Red Sea

At first sight it may appear pretty nondescript, how you might describe your everyday pet goldfish! But take a closer look at this 7cm fish. It has the most amazing violet streak below the eye, which illuminates the surrounding water. On mass the orange/gold colour of their body lights up the entire reef making you think you are surrounded by thousands of stars.

Also known as the lyretail coralfish, the lyretail anthia or the scalefin anthia, anthias are members of the family Serranidae (basses, basslets, groupers) and make up the subfamily Anthiinae. They occur in all tropical oceans and seas of the world from the western Indian Ocean, the Pacific Ocean as far east as Japan and Southeast Australia. The first species recognized in this group was described in the Mediterranean and northeast Atlantic and was given the name Anthias anthias by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758. Pretty remarkable stuff, huh!  Small, peaceful and beautiful they form complex social structures based on the number of males and females and also their position on the reef itself. They are mainly zooplankton feeders and shoal by the thousands. The male, 15 cm in length and a fuschia colour with a very distuinguishing banner, retains a harem of 5-10 females. When the male dies (no surprise there) one of the females will undergo sex reversal and take the place of the missing male!