‘ELEGANTLY WEIRD’ – SPOTTED DRUMFISH JUVENILES: BAHAMAS REEF FISH 20

I’ve posted before about the rather extraordinary SPOTTED DRUMFISH, one of those reef fish which in juvenile form is very different from the adult. This species was first up in the Bahamas Reef Fish series – click above link. Here are a few recent images, courtesy of Melinda Riger. The first three show the juvenile form (note the piscine photobomb in the first one). The last shows a group of adults hanging out on the reef with (I think) some soldierfish. You can see how the juvenile drumfish becomes the adult, but those little stripy bullet-heads with their two long elegantly trailing appendages differ considerably from the rather solid-looking spotty / stripy adults with their dramatic punko-rockabilly quiffs.