Caviar

Who’s this little guy?

Why, he’s one of the Opistognathidae, of course.  Otherwise known as a jawfish.

If he look as if he’s got his mouth stuffed full of caviar, it’s because his mouth is in fact stuffed with caviar. The jawfish females lay the eggs, after which the males hold the eggs in their mouths until they hatch.  That’s how I know this one’s a him, and not a her.

Jawfish are like blennies in that they live in little forts they build under the sand.  On the surface, a jawfish home just looks like a hole in the sand, but they’re actually quite sophisticated little structures.  The jawfish start by excavating a hemispherical space about six inches across, and then starts laying rocks inside, leaving a vertical hole as an exit/entrance. The surface is then covered with sand as camouflage.

Inside, at the very bottom, there’s an empty space for the fish to hide, with the cleverly-constructed rock barrier standing between the jawfish and any predator.

The jawfish spends its time hovering over its hole, eating plankton or whatever else might drift by, then shooting down into the hole at any sign of danger.

Fortunately I am loved by the animal kingdom, and I got this one to trust me long enough to snap his photo.