Our Reef Fish Identification guide is organized by descriptors rather than family, as most people recognize color and shape long before they learn taxonomic groups. This way, more people can figure out what they have seen. One such group is Reddish/Big Eyes. Interestingly, the fish in this group share more than color and eye size, they all actively feed at night. Most of these fish spend the day in reef recesses. Their big eyes help them find prey at very low light levels.
These photos were taken at depths of 30 to 45 feet. The fish were about 6 to 8 inches long.
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| Glasseye snapper, note the size of the lens on the eye |
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| Another view of glasseye snapper (which is not actually a snapper, but a bigeye) |
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| Longspine squirrelfish |
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| Blackbar soldierfish (a squirrelfish) |
An exception to the size and depth of the fish above is the flamefish, a small cardinalfish. It was hanging out in a small patch coral at a depth of about 12 feet. The flamefish was only about 3 inches long. But it feeds at night like all the bigger fish, above.
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