Cozumel French Grunt Behavior

[JayV78]

I have seen something like this before, but can't remember if it was a mating thing or territory thing. I took this picture yesterday in Cozumel

 

[designbysue]

Isn't it 2 males fighting over territory? - Cool pic, and what a great thing to see!

Sue

 

[deborahdelamar]

This is a common display for white grunts and even though they often school with other fish, is widely-considered to be the way they defend their daytime territory. It has nothing to do with reproduction or the genders of the fishes. White grunts hang around hard coral reefs during the day and travel to seagrass beds at night to feed on small shrimp, crabs and the like. Study of tagged white grunts reveals that individual fishes return to the same locations daily throughout their lifetimes. Life span of white grunts is to 18 years.

 

[deborahdelamar]

Should have mentioned that you photographed White, not French grunts.
Top photo is White, Lower photo is French.

 

[JayV78]

This is a common display for white grunts.

Thanks for the response and so much more information. At least I got close with it being a Grunt!