French Grunt

Haemulon flavolineatum is a species of grunt native to the western Atlantic Ocean from South Carolina and Bermuda to Brazil as well as the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

Description

Their bodies are yellow with horizontal silver stripes running the length of, and diagonally-oriented stripes below the lateral line of their bodies. All of the fins are yellow. This species can reach a length of 30 centimetres (12 in) TL though most do not exceed 17 centimetres (6.7 in).

Habitat

The French grunt travels in schools among coral and rocky reefs where it occurs at depths of from 0 to 60 metres (0 to 197 ft). This species is important to local commercial fisheries and are popular in public aquariums. French grunts feed on invertebrates, such as krill. They tend to hunt in schools around sunset. After they finish feeding they return to the grass beds that they call their homes.

The sounds they make when grinding their teeth earned them their common name. They use their swim bladders to amplify this sound.

Parasites

• Gnathia marleyi, a small crustacean