In Reply to: Coloration posted by Jon on December 03, 2006 at 13:30:27:

hey Jon,

I'm not an EI, but I took a couple marine bio courses...

we learned about Disruptive coloration, where a fish has strange colors or patterns, such as a "false eye", to confuse or disract predators. googling "fish disruptive coloration" will give you lots more info.

In addition, bright colors serve as a warning to other fishes that a fish will defend its territory.

adult garibaldi and treefish are both highly territorial. bright coloration signifies fish will defend their territories. I'd guess that the bright colors of the juvies are by products of the evolved coloration of the territorial adults.

if I had to take a guess, I'd say juvie black sea bass and juvie sheephead have disruptive coloration to confuse predators.

Scott