The Technicolor Reefs: the Reef Fish
One of the most common places to go fishing in Key West is out on the coral reef. The coral reef is large and abundant here in Key West, surrounding much of this tiny island. The reefs are hailed for their thriving biodiversity with all kinds of sea plants and sea animals creating the diverse and fragile ecosystem of the coral reef gardens. The corals and the reefs themselves are known for being vibrant and colorful. What people don't often know is how much vibrancy and color the reef fish themselves have. The fish are almost as colorful as the reefs themselves, creating a beautiful and artistic representation of one of nature's most fragile and aesthetically pleasing spots on Earth.
Of course, by fishing, you don't get to see much of this color and life face-on; you would have to go snorkeling or diving for that. But with fishers are usually curious about the kinds of fish they are going to catch. They can be assured that if they fish in the reefs, they will be able to catch a huge diversity of small- to medium-sized reef fish. These reef fish are colorful and great to look at, and kind of tasty to eat. The diverse life in the coral reef allows a great variety of fish species to live, eat and breed within the coral reef.
The most common fish in the coral reef can be distributed into two categories: the ones that swim right among the coral reef and the ones that swim above and surrounding the reefs. The former kind is the smaller and more colorful of the fish. They feed on small animals, seaweed, and sometimes even the coral. The types of fish in this category include cleaner fish, bullet fish, serranidae, parrotfish and butterflyfish. The other category includes the larger, predatory fish. They usually feed on the smaller reef fish, though some are herbivorous (and eat seagrass) or plankton-eating. This category includes the predators (barracuda, pompanos, snapper, grouper), the herbivores (house mackerel, conodon), and the plankton ones (manta ray, chromis, caesio)
