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Moorish idol — printable fact sheet
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Moorish idol
Zanclus cornutus
Zanclus cornutus is the sole living member of its family, Zanclidae, and it is one of the great cautionary tales of the marine aquarium trade: it is beautiful, it is common on Indo-Pacific reefs from the Red Sea and East Africa to Hawaii and the eastern Pacific, and it almost al…
Did you know?
- Unlike many reef fish, the Moorish idol is the sole extant species in its family, Zanclidae.
- The name comes from a belief among some Muslim coastal communities in the Indian Ocean that the fish was a bringer of happiness, and it was treated with reverence. Gill from Finding Nemo is a Moorish idol, which triggered a wave of demand from people who did not know the species is effectively unkeepable. Juveniles have a long trailing dorsal filament that is proportionally much longer than the adult's and shrinks as the fish grows.
What I learned
Draw the moorish idol
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