Haemulidae

Blue Striped Grunt ( Sciurus Haemulon )

The grunts and grunts ( Haemulidae ) ( Syn: Pomadasyidae ) are a family of perch relatives ( Percomorpha ). All species live in the sea, rocky and coral reefs, many also go into brackish water and very rare in fresh water. The different types are eleven centimeters to one meter long.

Features

Sweetlips and grunts are similar with their laterally compressed body the sea bream and snapper. Her head profile is usually convex, the lips often thick. Sweetlips often have magnificent, candy -like colors. Juvenile and adults often have very different colorings. Their dorsal fin is continuous, the first part has very strong spines.

Fins formula: Dorsal IX-XIV/11-26, Anal III/6-18

Way of life

Sweetlips and grunts are mainly nocturnal animals. During the day, they can, however, often in groups near coral heads, watching mostly under small overhangs or in caves when resting. You are just a little shy and soft only from when you get very close to them. Young animals have not only a different color, but also different behaviors. So they are usually loners. Sweetlips and grunts usually feed on invertebrate soil fauna.

System

The family is divided into two sub-families:

• The sweetlips ( Plectorhinchinae ) who live in the Indian Ocean, the western Pacific and in the eastern Atlantic.
• The grunts or hogfish ( Haemulinae ), from the western Atlantic and the eastern Pacific.

In total there are about 140 species.