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The Fish That Does It All: Cleaning Coral, Making White Sand And Even Changing G

Started by Shana A, May 16, 2011, 08:56:31 AM

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Shana A

The Fish That Does It All:  Cleaning Coral, Making White Sand And Even Changing Gender!
Posted on Thursday, May 12, 2011 by eNature

http://wild.enature.com/blog/the-fish-that-does-it-all-changing-colors-shape-and-even-gender/

It's a Bird! It's a Fish! It's Supermale!

It's the parrotfish, a fish that looks like a bird! But it's no ordinary fish: it's a female, it's a male, it's a supermale! Why there are even supermale Queen and supermale Princess Parrotfish. And not only that, these strange, bird-like, gaudily colorful fish travel in herds and graze on plants.

So how can one fish have the beak and colors of a parrot, behave like a cow, and change from female to male and from male to supermale in a single lifetime? For the parrotfish, it's all part of an ordinary day in the coral reefs.
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde


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Joelene9

  Another fish in the reef is the clownfish (think Nemo).  They all start as males, but turn female as they develop.  The top fish in this hierarchy is the alpha female and the top male.  These are the breeding pairs.  If the top female dies or gets vanquished, the alpha male or the largest male turns female and leads the school.  This one sounds familiar.  I am the oldest and tallest of my siblings! 
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clownfish
  Joelene.
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