"Kissing" Fish

[Scuba_Jenny]

Blue striped grunts. I believe the behavior is territory realted.

 

[aedavidson]

I knew that they were blue srtioed grunts but was not sure what they were doing . Thanks Jenny

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Yw

 

[Walter]

Territorial dispute, or dominance jousting.

Bluestriped Grunts aren't territorial, they are almost always found in schools. While it might be dominance related, it is also possible it's related to courtship. I checked Human's Reef Fish Behavior, but it's not mentioned. I tend to think it's a courtship dance, they don't appear to be aggressive when they display this behavior.

 

[jbilicska]

Thats a typical pose for when they are at a cleaning station to signal they are ready for a cleaning.

 

[Walter]

Thats a typical pose for when they are at a cleaning station to signal they are ready for a cleaning.

Not when they are mouth to mouth with another Bluestriped Grunt. This behavior isn't at cleaning stations. The invitation to clean doesn't involve the second Grunt.

 

[jbilicska]

My wife remembered seeing that picture in Humann's Caribbean Reef Fish Behavior book it was on the title page and I'll quote the description.
"Bluestripe Grunt aggressively compare the size of their mouths - a behavior known as gaping, used by many reef fishes to establish dominance within their social groups. "

 

[aedavidson]

I can say that I did not see a cleaning station in that area. In my diving there I did see quite a lot of them but never with a blue striped grunt, mosly large groupers on the stations that I saw.

 

[jbilicska]

aedavidson See my post before yours.

 

[aedavidson]

Thanks jbilicska. That picure is not out of a book though as I took it earlier this month. Good information I need to pick up some of those books myself.