Photo: HaSt · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Description
- 📏 up to 22 cm
- 🌊 lagoons, reef slopes, passes
The Moorish idol is recognisable at first glance: a flat, round body with vertical black, white and yellow bands, a long snout and a long white whip-like dorsal fin. It is the only species in its family. It grazes on sponges and reef invertebrates, alone, in pairs or in small groups.
Did you know?
The Moorish idol is famous among aquarists for one reason: it is extremely difficult to keep in captivity, because its diet of sponges is almost impossible to reproduce. The lagoon remains its true home. In Tahitian it is called pahara tore.
Source: Biology of the species; TAXREF vernacular database
Tahitian names: TAXREF (INPN/MNHN) – Society Islands. French name: Idole maure.
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