Moorish Idol – An Icon that is often Imitated

Photo courtesy from Wikiwand

Moorish Idol (Zanclus cornutus)

Max. Length:  23 centimeters
Length at 1st Maturity: 14.6 centimeters
a value:0.01720
b value: 3.171
Depth Range: 3 – 182 meter(10 – 600 feet)
Frequency: Abundant in Indo-Pacific Ocean

Photo courtesy from www.suggest-keywords.com

Identifying a Moorish Idol is one of the easiest ways to classify and categorize a reef inhabitant of Cocos Island. Aside from being the sole species belonging to the Family of Moorish Idols, you can easily identify them through its strongly compressed and discoid body with a small and tubular snout.

Aside from this, other identifying marks of a Moorish Idol includes its distinct dorsal spine that elongates into a whip-like filament and eyes that are set high on its deeply keeled body. But what really stands out for an easy Moorish Idol identification is their body color pattern that has an alternative contrasting band of white, black and yellow markings.

Falsely depicted in an Animated Movie

Photo courtesy from Disney Wiki Wikia

If you were able to see an animated movie whose main character involves a clownfish where one of the co-stars depicts a life of a Moorish Idol, then we can safely say that it is depicted on the opposite side of the story. Though we understand that the depiction is just used for story-telling purposes where the movie involves an indoor aquarium set-up and maintained by a professional whose expertise involves the health and maintenance of our teeth.

Regardless of your profession (may it be a Doctor, Lawyer and including my very own: Marine Biologist), raising a Moorish Idol indoors in an aquarium is relatively difficult. Given that you are equipped with the most advanced technology an aquarist may have, Moorish Idol usually don’t last a couple of days in an aquarium setting, as opposed to the month, if not, year-long existence of Moorish idol in its depiction in the the movie. The primary reason behind this is the complex feeding requirement of a Moorish Idol where it is known to be an omnivore and a very picky eater.

So with this, if you are planning to set-up you own marine aquarium and highlight a Moorish Idol as your resident reef species, we highly discourage you not to pursue with your plan as you will be wasting your money where the aesthetic benefits you can get out of this project will only last a couple of days.

Beware of an Impersonator

The Pennant Coralfish. Photo courtesy from The Dive Inn

While camouflage is a common survival characteristic for reef species, mimicry is another method of survival. As you go familiar with Moorish Idol, you will observe that there are other reef inhabitants that almost looks the same with a Moorish Idol, We are talking about the Bannerfish (Heniochus diphreutes) and the Pennant Coralfish (Heniochus acuminatus) which are both butterflyfish in nature.

At the end of the day, after observing a Moorish Idol in Cocos Island and aside from the fact that it brings in happiness if you see this fish according to a native African belief, consider yourself lucky enough as this fish only thrives in areas with good water quality.

Reference

Fishbase: www.fishbase.org

IUCN Redlist of Threatened Species: wwwiucnredlist.org

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org

Video courtesy from curt arnold

About Tristan Paylado
Tristan is a marine biologist and a CMAS 2-Star Dive Instructor
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