Reef Fish

The most obvious mobile animals on the reef are the fish. With spectacular colours and various shapes and sizes, they dart between corals, twist and turn in synchrony in large schools and cruise around the reef edge.

There are about 1,500 to 2,000 species of reef fish on the Great Barrier Reef. They are an important source of food for humans as well as reef predators. Their identification is complicated by the difference in appearance and habitat between juveniles and adults and the uncanny ability in some species to change sex throughout their lifetime.

Clown fish and anemone Photo: AIMS

Reef fish are an essential part of the attraction and ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef. See the links below for information on how this and other fisheries in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area are managed.

• Reef fish classification
• Colours - mimicry - camouflage
• Reproduction
• Feeding reef fish
• CRC Reef Fishing and Fisheries Project
• CRC Reef research on reef fish

You can also find out about some of the species that are fished on the Reef:

• Coral Trout
• Red throat emporer
• Bommie cod
• Red bass
• Snappers

For publications on Reef fish, go to the CRC Reef Publications page.