ANTHIAS
Perhaps the quintessential "reef fish," anthias make up a
sizeable portion of the population of pink, orange and
yellow fishes seen swarming in most coral reef
photography and film. The anthias are members of the
family Serranidae (basses, basslets, groupers) and make
up the subfamily Anthiinae.
Anthias are mostly small, peaceful, and beautiful; and are
thus quite popular within the ornamental fish trade. They
form complex social structures based on the number of
males and females and also their position on the reef
itself, and are mainly zooplankton feeders. They occur in
all tropical oceans and seas of the world. The first species
recognized in this group was described in the
Mediterranean and northeast Atlantic and was given name
Anthias anthias by Carolus Linnaeus in 1758.
Anthias can swarm by the thousands. Anthias do school in
these large groups, though they tend toward more
intimate subdivisions within the school, appropriately
called "harems". These consist of one dominant, colorful
male, anywhere from 2-12 females — who have their own
hierarchy among them — and up to 2 'subdominant'
males, often less brightly colored and non-territorial.
Within the swarm of females, territorial males perform
acrobatic U-swim displays and vigorously defend an area
of the reef and its associated harem.
Anthias are protogynous hermaphrodites. All anthias are
born female; if a dominant male perishes, the largest
female of the group will often change into a male to take
its place. This may lead to squabbling between the next
largest male, who sees an opportunity to advance, and the
largest female, whose hormones are surging with
testosterone. This can turn quite vicious in the limited
confines of captivity.
Seven genera of anthias are known to occur in the coral
reef ecosystems: Holanthias, Luzonichthys, Nemanthias,
Plectranthias, Pseudanthias, Rabaulichthys and
Serranocirrhitus. Members of all these genera make it into
the aquarium trade, although Pseudanthias is by far the
most encountered in the hobby.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
