Banded butterflyfish

We encounter banded butterfly more frequently than all the other butterflyfish on Bonaire's reefs.  They are charming, graceful swimmers, and don't pay much attention to divers.  They often swim around in pairs, and often hang out near various sponges.  They grow up to 6 inches, but these fish were between 4 and 5 inches long. These photos were taken at depths of 15 to 30 feet.

Pair heading into a touch-me-not sponge.

Pair next to a rope sponge.

Rock beauty

The rock beauty is a member of the angelfish family.  As it grows, the coloration changes from nearly completely yellow (with a blue-ringed, black spot on the body) as juveniles, to black across the body as the fish mature.  The head and tail remain yellow, and the blue markings above and below the eye are present at all stages.  Adults develop blue lips.

This fish has a very striking appearance, and although I often try to photograph them, my efforts are usually without success.  They are rather shy. They grow up to 12 inches, but the adults in these photos were only about 8 inches long.  The photos were taken at depths between 15 and 40 feet.

Juvenile, about 2 inches

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Juvenile/intermediate, about 4 inches

Redband parrotfish

The redband parrotfish is one of many species that exhibit multiple color phases.  Juveniles display one of many patterns, including a striped pattern, a mottled stripe pattern, and a camouflage pattern.

As adults, they display either the initial phase, in which the body is a solid color (some shade of green), with red fins; or the terminal phase which has much more complicated coloration on the body, including a small yellow blotch with black spots.

These fish were about 8 inches long.  The photos were taken at depths of 35 to 45 feet.

Initial phase

Terminal phase

Frogfish

For many divers in Bonaire, finding a frogfish is an important achievement.  From season to season, the number and color of longlure frogfish that we have observed has varied wildly.  The longlure frogfish tends to set up in one spot and remain there, fishing for prey using its lure.

Sometimes a brief glimpse of color is all that we see of them.

Upside down, facing to the left.

While at other times, we see them moving around, looking for better fishing.

Head down, tail up, "walking" down the reef.

These photos were taken at a depth of about 35 feet, and the frogfish was about 4 inches long

Lionfish

Over the last 4 or 5 years, lionfish have become established on Bonaire's reefs.  Lionfish lack natural predators, as they evolved in the Indo-Pacific region.  However, an army of lionfish hunters (divers who have been trained to capture lionfish with spears) continues to remove lionfish from the reefs.  As a result, we don't see lionfish on every dive.  But they are still present, and won't ever be eradicated.

The smallest lionfish that I have seen was less than an inch long, and nearly transparent.

Less than an inch.

As they grow, their pigment darkens.  The fish in the photos below was about 3 inches long.

By about 5 inches, lionfish acquire their adult coloration pattern.

Although lionfish grow up to about a foot long, most of the ones that we see are fairly small.  The big ones are being eaten in restaurants here in Bonaire.

These photos were taken at depths between 15 and 40 feet.

Foureye butterflyfish

The foureye butterflyfish is named for its large, black eye spots, which are designed to confuse predators.  The first thing a predator sees is the false eye spots.  With these, it appears that the back end of the fish is the front end, and any predator would expect the fish to move one direction, while the butterflyfish can escape by swimming off the other direction.

The juvenile foureye butterflyfish has a second set of the false eye spots above the set that they retain as adults.  The real eyes are obscured by the diagonal black bar that runs through them.

This species can grow up to 6 inches, but the fish in these photos were about 4 inches long.  The photos were taken at depths of 15 to 30 feet. From my observations, I would say that this is the second most abundant butterflyfish on Bonaire's reefs.

Cardinalfish

We have been on several night dives, and one of the most interesting things that we saw was how small cardinalfish move out into the open, and up into the water column.  During daylight hours, we only see them hiding under reef structures, but at night they come out to feed.  Their eyes are adapted to the night light.

These photos were taken in 15 to 25 feet of water. Cardinalfish don't get much bigger than about 3 inches, but some of these were even smaller.

Dusky cardinalfish

Twospot cardinalfish

Juvenile dusky cardinalfish