lautnusantara.com - Rabbitfish is a popular fish to put in aquarium because of their bright and beautiful color. Some of the rabbitfish species are commercially important because they used as a food source for human. Rabbitfish is belong to Siganus family that includes 29 species. Rabbitfish has compressed, oval body and a few species has tubular snout. They have venomous spines on their dorsal and pelvic fins. In at least one of this species the venom is found similar to the stonefish. All rabbitfish are diurnal, or active in a day time, and they will sleep in reef gap at night. They are notoriously herbivorous, but some of the species also eat jellyfish or small crustacean. That habit suggest that some species might be an opportunistic omnivorous.

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Here are some fun facts about this reef fish

•    Most rabbitfish has olive or brown color with yellow, black and white mark all over their body. Meanwhile others black stripes that stretch diagonally from mouth to the top of the head and cover the eyes
•    Rabbitfish that have prominent black stripes on the face is known as foxfaced rabbitfish
•    This fish is able to change their color during the night or when it feel threatened. This ability makes them blend with their surrounding
•    They are very active on the day or called diurnal animal and will hide in the crevices of the coral reef at night
•    Most of them are herbivour, but some species eat smaller animals and coral.
•    Young rabbitfish often form schools when they feed. Coral reef ecosystem provide protection and source of food to them.
•    Some species of rabbitfish will stay and defend their territory
•    Spiny fins of rabbitfish contain venom so most of the marine predator will avoid eating this fish. Luckily their venom is not life-threatening for humans
•    Rabbitfish is a monogamous fish, they will form a couples when reach 10 cm length and last until one of the partners die
•    Two species of this fish, S. rivulatus and S. ludirus, have invade Mediterranean Sea through Suez Canal and the process is known as Lessepsian Migration.

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