Hogfish seen at ABQ Biopark Aquarium in NM.

Hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus), family Labridae, found in the western Atlantic, along the coasts of North and South America, and the Caribbean

Like many wrasses, this species is a protogynous sequential hermaphrodite. They start off their lives as females, and become males when they get older.

photograph by Albert Kok 

Daily fish fact #546

Hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus)!

It uses its elongated snout to dig around the ocean substrate, looking for molluscs, crustaceans and sea urchins!

Hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus)

Family: Wrasse Family (Labridae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Vulnerable

Named for its elongated snout which it uses to root through sediment in search of crabs and other seabed-dwelling prey, the Hogfish is a unique species of wrasse native to the western Atlantic Ocean, where it mainly inhabits areas near coral reefs (particularly reefs dominated by soft corals.) All Hogfishes are born as females, but as they progress through their lives some may develop into males upon reaching older age; members of this species live in small schools consisting of numerous small females and a single large male (which can be distinguished from the females around him by his larger size, darker colouration, longer fin spines and the distinctive black spot near the base of his tail,) responsible for fertilizing all the group's eggs, and in the event of the school's male dying or otherwise being separated from the rest of the group the largest, oldest remaining female will lose the ability to lay eggs, increase in size, develop the colouration of a male and gain the ability to produce sperm, taking his place. In addition to changing in colouration when changing sex, Hogfishes are also known to be capable of changing colour in order to avoid detection by predators (taking on duller colouration to match their surroundings upon spotting predators such as Sand Tiger Sharks,) and surprisingly it seems this colour-changing ability is managed purely by the chromatophores (colour-changing cells) in their skin with little input from the brain, as the skin will continue to change colour to match its surroundings for a short period even after being removed from the fish's body.

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Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/49432-Lachnolaimus-maximus

"Parti-colored Bumpheads."

The Arcturus Adventure: an Account of the New York Zoological Society's First Oceanographic Expedition. Written by William Beebe. 1926.

Internet Archive

Lyretail Hogfish - Bodianus anthioides

(EN) Lyretail Hogfish - (FR) Labre-lyre, Bodianus anthioides, Marsa Alam, Egypt

photograph by François Libert

As if changing color isn't impressive enough, hogfish can 'see' with their skin too. A new US study suggests this bizarre form of visualization is how the reef fish detect their own colors. "They appear to be watching their own color change," says biologist Lori Schweikert, now at the University of North Carolina. "If you didn't have a mirror, and you couldn't bend your neck, how would you know if you're dressed appropriately?" For us, color choice is a matter of fashion. But for the hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus) living under the constant threat of predation from any angle, getting your shade to match your background is literally a matter of life or death.

Continue Reading.

Some older studies. I posted them on twitter because my engagement is ass, cannot tell if algorithm or disinterest. In any case, studies! A river dolphin and a hog fish.

Fish-uary 2024 day 3: wrasse

Day three of @fish-daily's fish-uary 2024. The prompt is wrasse and I offer the hogfish (Lachnolaimus maximus) with its weird mouth.

Fishuary Day 3: Dude You Can't Just Ask Someone What Their Favorite R-

Oh. W R A S S E. Like the fish. Ok fine. Still hard to choose I guess. Careful with how you pronounce that in the future.

@fish-daily

Beyond Eyes: This Fish Can See With Its Skin

Several years back, during a fishing expedition in the Florida Keys, biologist Lori Schweikert came face to face with an unusual quick-change act. She caught a pointy-snouted reef fish known as a hogfish and placed it on her boat’s deck. However, when she later intended to transfer it to a cooler, she observed a peculiar phenomenon: its skin had taken on the same color and pattern as the deck of the boat.

Schweikert was surprised because this hogfish had continued its camouflage even though it was no longer alive. This got her wondering: Can hogfish detect light using only their skin, independently of their eyes and brain?

nice fish😲👌 #hogfish Reposted from @cattrin_ We’ve been seeing boarfish in great numbers on the weedline lately, plucking off a couple here and there to eat and leaving plenty behind for the other spearos. It’s such a cool community we have in the diving world, only selectively taking what we need. Sometimes it’s a big feed, sometimes it’s a small feed, but I feel like we’re seeing less and less deathpiles and more conscious harvesting and I just think that’s neat 💁🏻‍♀️🐟 Photo credit to sea otter ET Supreme @captain_smulders 📸 @freedive.newzealand 🐟 follow us 👇👇👇👇👇👇 @spearfish.and.freedive.world . . . . . . . #florida #westernaustralia #seeaustralia #australia #maldives #miami #costarica #photography #ocean #athlete #adventure #beaches #relax #happiness #love #peace #fun #sunnyday #happy #enjoy #beautiful #dreambig #weekend #Sports #Friends #Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf5R9gAIrQ9/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Daily fish fact #105

The hogfish is named after its elongated snout and foraging tendencies! They dig around sand to find molluscs and crustaceans in the substrate.

Fig

For our final meal of the trip to Charleston, we went to the often difficult to reserve Fig with a couple that I’m friends with who live nearby. I managed to score a last minute reservation at 9:15pm, and we ended up closing down the joint at close to midnight. It turned out to be our overall best meal of the trip. Let’s get into it… We started with a bunch of items that we all shared. Broiled…

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Hogfish tattoo done by DJ 💉 #tattoos #tattoo #fishing #fishtattoos #hogfish (at Loyal 2 The Coil Tattoos & Body Piercing) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cia7G5DO2-K/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=