42 



UNDERWATER GUIDE TO MARINE LIFE 



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Fig. 12. Four examples of disruptive coloration in tropical reef fishes. Upper left: 

 the rihhonfish, Eques species, is vertically striped on its head and horizontally 

 striped on its hody, which serves to break the fish into two major parts. Upper right: 

 a midget bass, the harlequin serranid, Prionodes tigrinus, breaks its body into seg- 

 ments with vertical bars and puts a stripe through the eye to mask it. Lower left: the 

 Nassaii grouper, Epinephelus striatus, breaks the outline of its massive jaws by con- 

 tinuing the pattern of stripes from the snout onto the lower jaw (note the con- 

 spicuous tuning fork pattern on the forehead, a good identifying characteristic^. 

 Lower right: the cowfish, Lactophrys tricornis, shows a disruptive coloration as well 

 as color resemblance and protective habits, all of which cause the fish to look like 

 a rock Qa large stone coral is at the right in this picture^. 



