Tuesday, July 26, 2005

NAPOLEON WRASSE



Here's a shot of the Napoleon wrasse or humphead wrasse as per Boringest’s request.

The Napoleon is characterized by its hump on the head that resembles Napoleon's hat.

It grows up to about two meters and is the second largest coral fish after the gigantic grouper.

I first saw the graceful Napoleon in Bunaken, Manado... and that guy was huge.

*Eeeeiii.... no underwater housing at that time*

They are usually alone, unlike the 'herdy' buffalo fish.

The bump on the Napoleon's head is more 'squarish' while the ones on the buffaloes are more 'knobby'.

Furthermore, Napoleons are more colorful, albeit still rather dull when compared to other garish parrotfishes in the wrasse family.

The Napoleon is threatened to the brink of extinction because restaurants (Chinese again!!!) pay a premium price for them, as in 400 US dollars a kilogram.

The Napoleon normally do not take baits on hooks, so fishermen use cyanide bombs to stun them.

In the process, the cyanide bombings destroy the fragile corals.

This guy was photographed at Okinawa, not in the wonderful seas, but in the aquarium.

*Porgib me for cheating here!*

Still, am not too satisfied with this shot, and if not for the request, it would not be seeing light here...

Size was about half meter...

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