creole wrasse, coral reef mass spawnings

Paul Hoetjes reefcare at cura.net
Fri Jun 1 18:56:37 EDT 2001


Dear Julie,

Unlike most other wrasses, creole wrasses are mainly plankton feeders.
In the day time in Curaçao I have seen them forage in large aggregations
high in the watercolumn quite some distance away from the drop-off,
often so far out that they are not visible when diving along the
drop-off. Towards dusk I suspect that they come in to the reef to seek
shelter for the night, since they sleep wedged in among the corals. As
it gets darker they probably keep foraging close to the reef for as long
as they deem safe before retiring, thus you'll see large aggregations
(not schools, since they are not really organized like sardines,
silversides or other typical schooling fish) right over the drop-off or
a little shallower.

This is all conjecture of course, I don't know if anyone has ever really
researched the behaviour of these atypical wrasses.

Regards,
Paul Hoetjes

Julie Ekstrom wrote:

>> Hi Coral list,
>
>
>
>
>> I have two questions:
>
>>
>
>> 1. Does anyone know why the Creole wrasse (Clepticus parrae) school
>> over the reefs at dusk in Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean? I haven't been
>> able to find the reason for this behavior (feeding I assume but if
>> that is the case then why don't all wrasses do this everywhere?)
>> and, as far as I know, it does not happen everywhere in the
>> Caribbean.
>
>>
>
>> 2. I am looking for specific mass spawning dates for coral reefs
>> around the world. I would like to know whether synchronized coral
>> spawning occurs in the following places and if so, when it occurs:
>
>> Great Barrier Reef
>
>> Caribbean
>
>> Indian Ocean
>
>> Red Sea
>
>> Southeast Asia/Indonesia
>
>> Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia
>
>> Hawaii
>
>> Cocos Island
>
>>
>
>> I would really appreciate any help or guidance in finding my
>> answers.
>
>>
>
>> Thank you,
>
>>
>
>> Julie
>

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