1. One of the most popular attractions here at Dry Tortugas is the snorkeling. This remote island offers some of the most spectacular snorkeling opportunities in the world where you can see many species of colorful reef fish that are as vivid and vibrant as the reef that they inhabit.
2. When you go dive into the underwater paradise of Dry Tortugas, you will come across many fish darting in and out of the coral formations.
3. The coral reefs at Dry Tortugas National Park occupy a tiny space in the underwater marine environment but more than 25% of all marine fish species inhabit these rich reefs.
4. In this fierce environment there is always heavy competition for food and space. Therefore, the fish have learnt to adapt themselves to this challenging environment through superb survival tactics.
5. While open water fish have adapted themselves to the vast ocean by increasing the speed at which they swim through a streamlined torpedo shape that reduces friction while swimming, reef fish have learnt to adapt themselves to the confines of the reef in which they live so as to maximize maneuverability.
6. There are many angler fish that have flat shapes with which they can dart in and out of the small nooks and crannies of the reef with ease and change direction in the blink of an eye. There are other tiny fish that lodge themselves in the crevices of the reef with the help of sharp spines along their fins. These spines may be venomous too, to keep them safe from the many predators that roam the reef.
7. Due to lack of space, reef fish have adapted to be social creatures, often together when foraging, or to seek protection from predators. Unstructured aggregation of many different species of fish usually happens when they share a food source or a nesting site.
8. When reef fish swim and stay together due to social reasons but are still a bit unorganized, it is called shoaling. These fish generally stay within close proximity to the rest of the shoal, but also venture small distances in any direction.
9. When these uncoordinated shoals of fish become more organized and start swimming in the same direction in unison, it is called schooling. Fish belonging to a school are normally of the same age, size and species.
10. This school of fish move as if they are one entity. The space between each fish is uniform and they can even undertake complicated maneuvers and changes in directions swiftly and with ease.
Orignal From: Ten Interesting Facts about the Reef Fish of Dry Tortugas National Park
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