70 years of helping people to care for our ocean

Fishy Fridays – Moorish Idol vs Coachman

 
An artist’s dream! This beautiful fish looks like it was painted by a master artist. The coachman looks very similar – but it was painted by an amateur!
The moorish idol has a long white dorsal filament and a longer protruding mouth. It is common on shallow reefs as far south as the Eastern Cape. It uses its long mouth to probe holes in the reef for algae and small invertebrates.