Bonaire fish

Reef fish

Reef fish

41 species · grouped by family

REEF volunteers recorded 362 fish species in about 2,000 surveys at 77 sites in the Bonaire National Marine Park between 1993 and 1999 (Pattengill-Semmens 2002). Bari Reef, a shore dive just north of Kralendijk, had more documented fish species (317) than any other single reef in the Caribbean in 2004 (Scuba Diving 2004), and in 2007 eight of the ten most diverse sites in the REEF database were on Bonaire (REEF 2007).

The table lists common reef fish of Bonaire’s shore dives, grouped by family in the style of REEF fish survey sheets, then sorted by common name. The “Look for” notes come from each fish’s FishBase page, linked in the row, with Bonaire notes where a source gives them.

Table 1 — Common reef fish of Bonaire, grouped by family in the style of REEF survey sheets (Other last), then sorted by common name. Each fish’s family is shown under its scientific name. Fish marked “No photo yet” link to photos on Wikimedia Commons.

Photo	Common name	Species	Look for	Profile
Angelfish Pomacanthidae · 3 species
No photo yet	French angelfish	Pomacanthus paruPomacanthidae	Black, with most scales rimmed golden yellow, a yellow ring round the eye, a whitish chin and a yellow filament on the dorsal fin.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Queen angelfish	Holacanthus ciliarisPomacanthidae	Tail and pectoral fins all yellow, and a black spot ringed in electric blue on the forehead, the “crown”.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Rock beauty	Holacanthus tricolorPomacanthidae	Yellow front and yellow tail, the rest black. Juveniles are yellow with a blue-ringed black spot.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Butterflyfish Chaetodontidae · 2 species
No photo yet	Banded butterflyfish	Chaetodon striatusChaetodontidae	Two broad black bars on the side, a third from the soft dorsal fin onto the tail base, and black bands near the fin edges.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Foureye butterflyfish	Chaetodon capistratusChaetodontidae	A large white-ringed black eyespot near the tail, dark diagonal lines forming forward-pointing chevrons, and a black bar through the eye.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Damselfish Pomacentridae · 2 species
No photo yet	Sergeant major	Abudefduf saxatilisPomacentridae	Greenish-yellow above, white below, with five black bars; nesting males turn dark blue.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Yellowtail damselfish	Microspathodon chrysurusPomacentridae	Adults dark brown with a bright yellow tail. Juveniles dark blue with electric-blue spots and a clear tail.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Eels Muraenidae · 3 species
No photo yet	Green moray	Gymnothorax funebrisMuraenidae	Very large, up to 2.5 m, and uniformly dark green to brown.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
	Purplemouth moray	Gymnothorax vicinusMuraenidae	Mottled greenish or brown, often with darker flecks; the anal fin and tail have white edges that run on along the rear of the dorsal fin. Photographed on Bonaire (photo on this page); a reef guide also shows one from Bonaire (Florent’s Reef Guide).	FishBase
No photo yet	Spotted moray	Gymnothorax moringaMuraenidae	Pale white or yellowish, covered in small, overlapping brownish to purplish-black spots.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Groupers, seabasses and hamlets Epinephelidae, Serranidae · 5 species
No photo yet	Barred hamlet	Hypoplectrus puellaSerranidae	Cream to pale yellow with six brown bars, the first through the eye, and blue lines on the head.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Coney	Cephalopholis fulvaEpinephelidae	Red, brown or yellow phases, all with many small black-edged blue spots and two black spots on top of the tail base.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Graysby	Cephalopholis cruentataEpinephelidae	Pale with reddish spots and four white or black spots along the base of the dorsal fin.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Nassau grouper	Epinephelus striatusEpinephelidae	The third and fourth dark bars join above the lateral line in a “W”, with a forked dark stripe on top of the head. Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Tiger grouper	Mycteroperca tigrisEpinephelidae	About eleven narrow pale lines slanting down and forward across the back, unique among Caribbean groupers.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Grunts Haemulidae · 2 species
No photo yet	French grunt	Haemulon flavolineatumHaemulidae	Yellow, with enlarged scales in slanting rows below the lateral line, which no other grunt has.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Smallmouth grunt	Haemulon chrysargyreumHaemulidae	Six straight, evenly spaced bronze-yellow stripes and mostly yellow fins.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Jacks Carangidae · 3 species
No photo yet	Bar jack	Caranx ruberCarangidae	Silver, with a dark stripe along the back that turns down across the tail base onto the lower tail lobe.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
	Bigeye scad	Selar crumenophthalmusCarangidae	Slim, metallic blue-green above and white below, with a very large eye, a deeply forked tail and a black spot on the gill cover (Naturalis Caribbean Diving). Travels in compact schools of thousands (Naturalis Caribbean Diving); photographed in a huge school on Bonaire (photo on this page).	FishBase
	Horse-eye jack	Caranx latusCarangidae	Dusky to blackish scutes near the tail, a yellow tail, and little or no spot on the gill cover. Photographed hunting along a school of bigeye scad (photo on this page).	FishBase
Parrotfish Labridae (Scarinae) · 3 species
No photo yet	Queen parrotfish	Scarus vetulaLabridae (Scarinae)	Initial phase dark grey with a broad white stripe below mid-side; terminal phase has a brownish-orange band near the tail edge.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Rainbow parrotfish	Scarus guacamaiaLabridae (Scarinae)	Dull orange fins with green, blue fin margins and blue-green tooth plates. Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Stoplight parrotfish	Sparisoma virideLabridae (Scarinae)	Terminal males green with three orange bands on the head and a yellow spot at the top of the gill cover; initial phase brown above with a bright red lower third.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Puffers, porcupinefish and boxfish Diodontidae, Ostraciidae · 3 species
	Balloonfish	Diodon holocanthusDiodontidae	Dark blotches on the back with spots between them, unspotted fins, and brown bars above and below the eye.	FishBase
	Honeycomb cowfish	Acanthostracion polygoniusOstraciidae	A boxfish covered in a bold pattern of hexagons outlined by narrow dark lines, with two spines above the eyes (Wikipedia); it can change colour (Wikipedia).	FishBase
	Porcupinefish	Diodon hystrixDiodontidae	Tan to light brown with many small dark spots and no large blotches; white belly.	FishBase
Snappers Lutjanidae · 2 species
No photo yet	Schoolmaster	Lutjanus apodusLutjanidae	Olive-grey with about eight narrow pale bars and a blue line under the eye.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Yellowtail snapper	Ocyurus chrysurusLutjanidae	A bright yellow stripe from snout to tail, a blue-violet back with yellow spots, and a yellow tail.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Surgeonfish Acanthuridae · 1 species
No photo yet	Blue tang	Acanthurus coeruleusAcanthuridae	Adults bluish-grey with faint wavy lines and a yellowish tail spine; juveniles bright yellow.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Triggerfish and filefish Balistidae, Monacanthidae · 4 species
	Black durgon	Melichthys nigerBalistidae	Dark brown to black, with a thin white line along the bases of the dorsal and anal fins.	FishBase
No photo yet	Queen triggerfish	Balistes vetulaBalistidae	Two curved bright-blue bands from the snout to the pectoral fin and a blue bar across the tail base. Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
	Scrawled filefish	Aluterus scriptusMonacanthidae	Long and flat, olive-brown to grey with small black spots and blue lines and spots.	FishBase
No photo yet	Whitespotted filefish	Cantherhines macrocerusMonacanthidae	Brown, with or without many white spots; males have an orange patch of bristles in front of the tail-base spines.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Wrasse and hogfish Labridae · 3 species
No photo yet	Bluehead wrasse	Thalassoma bifasciatumLabridae	Terminal males with a blue head, green body and two black bars around a light-blue band; initial phase yellow above a black mid-side stripe.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Hogfish	Lachnolaimus maximusLabridae	The first three dorsal spines long and filament-like, an arched profile, and a black spot at the rear base of the dorsal fin. Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Spanish hogfish	Bodianus rufusLabridae	Head and upper front of the body blue (red in deep water); the rest of the body and the tail yellow.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
Other Aulostomidae, Bothidae, Mullidae, Priacanthidae, Sciaenidae · 5 species
	Glasseye	Heteropriacanthus cruentatusPriacanthidae	Large eyes; silvery-pink, mottled or solid red, with faint dark dots on the fins.	FishBase
No photo yet	Peacock flounder	Bothus lunatusBothidae	A flatfish, grey-brown with many light-blue rings and dots and two or three diffuse black spots along the lateral line.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
No photo yet	Spotted drum	Equetus punctatusSciaenidae	White with dark bars and a very tall first dorsal fin; the second dorsal fin and tail are dark with white spots. A visitor saw its full life cycle, juvenile to adult, on Bonaire (Undercurrent); see the Macro page.	FishBase · Photos (Commons)
	Trumpetfish	Aulostomus maculatusAulostomidae	Very long and thin, with a chin barbel and a row of separate spines in front of the dorsal fin.	FishBase
	Yellow goatfish	Mulloidichthys martinicusMullidae	Pale tan with a single yellow stripe from the eye to the yellow tail, the only Caribbean goatfish with one yellow stripe. Photographed schooling under the Salt Pier (photo on this page).	FishBase

Invasive

Lionfish

An Indo-Pacific fish that should not be here

The first lionfish on Bonaire, a juvenile, was seen at the Nukove dive site in October 2009 and caught the same day by the Marine Park team (Bonaire Reporter 2009). Removal began at once: divers reported fish and rangers netted them, and by the end of 2009 the park was training volunteers to remove them. The ELF (a small hand spear) came in 2011 and lionfish hunting courses at dive shops in 2012 (DCNA / STINAPA 2019).

Spearfishing is otherwise banned in the park, so only divers who have taken the course and hold an ELF from STINAPA may hunt lionfish; about 500 volunteers have been trained (Reef Resilience). Lionfish biomass on Bonaire was 2.76 times lower at fished sites than at unfished ones, though deep reefs that divers can’t reach keep supplying new fish (de León et al. 2013).

Credits

Fish photo credits

Photos and where they were taken

Photos credited to Megan Applegate are © Megan Applegate, all rights reserved. Most were taken on Bonaire in December 2024; the scrawled filefish and the glasseye were photographed in Palau. The others are reference photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited below.