Aulostomus chinensis is common on most Kwajalein reefs. It comes in several colors from yellow to gray, sometimes with horizontal and/or vertical white stripes. They often hover mouth down over the reef, darting down to snatch small fish prey. We have also seen them on several occasions apparently darting down at moray eels whose heads protrude out of the reef. It is hard to imagine that the small teeth of trumpetfish could damage the tough skin of an eel, but it seems we have seen it too often for it to be a coincidence. They also often sidle up against straight branches of gorgonian soft corals, possibly blending in their long and narrow shape to hide from potential prey, who might then come close enough to be eaten.
Cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) inside the long tubular mouth of a trumpetfish to pick mouth parasites.
The yellow form.
Hiding among the arms of a crinoid.
Hiding among branches of gorgonians.
Don't mind me, I'm just another strand of gorgonian.
Trumpetfish can also often be seen "shadowing" other fish like this goatfish (Parupeneus barberinus). It may help the trumpetfish get close to prey that would not be afraid of the relatively harmless goatfish, and it also lets the trumpet hover over the goat when it is hunting, giving it a chance to snatch prey stirred up by the goat as it digs in the sand.
Created 1 February 2018