One of my all time favourite fish is the goatfish, it is therefore perfect that we can find them everywhere while diving from Sanur, at all our dive sites! Every time I see goatfishes they make me smile! This week we saw many goatfishes, along with Manta rays, a nurse shark, a massive tuna and many turtles while diving with David in Nusa Penida.
Goatfish have a pair of long chin barbells (whiskers), which are chemo sensors that they use to search for food. Most of the time you will see the goatfishes on sandy bottoms around coral reefs scrolling through the sand.
While they are feeding they change colour, most species adapt to the pale sand colour to become less visible for predators. They feed on worms, crustaceans, molluscs and small invertebrates. Often you’ll see a group of goatfish being followed by other reef fish, the followers are waiting for the goatfishes to miss a bite so they can eat it themselves.
The common diving signal for goatfishes are two fingers under the chin, mimicking the goatfish’ whiskers.
The goatfish is a funny looking fish and makes me smile every time I see one. Good thing is that we see them on almost every dive, so every dive is fun!
