The yellowhead jawfish (''Opistognathus aurifrons'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

jawfish Opistognathidae, the jawfishes, are a Family (biology), family of ray-finned fish, fishes in the order Blenniiformes. The family includes about 80 species. They are native to warmer parts of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, where found fr ...

native to

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

s in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. It is found at depths of from . The head and upper body are a light, but brilliant, yellow color slowly fading to a pearlescent blue hue. It can reach a length of TL. Yellowhead jawfishes are common in Florida. The Jawfishes live in rubble areas and sand in groups of up to 70 individuals. The yellowhead jawfish is usually found in shallows where materials are available for burrow construction. It remains near its relatively small

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

, and is typically seen with only the head and upper section of its body protruding from its burrow, although it sometimes can be found hovering nearby. It is able to arrange material using its mouth, carrying sand, shells, or small rocks from one location to another. It is a

mouthbrooder Mouthbrooding, also known as oral incubation and buccal incubation, is the care given by some groups of animals to their offspring by holding them in the mouth of the parent for extended periods of time. Although mouthbrooding is performed by a va ...

, with the male carrying the eggs in its mouth until they hatch. Yellowhead jawfish have two different types of responses to intruders, flight or fight. The type of response depends on the type of incoming fish. During flight, the fish will swim away from the intruder and in go into their burrow, covering the opening with a large rock. During fight, the fish will spit sand or rocks at the intruder. Colin, P. (1971). Interspecific relationships of yellowhead jawfish, opistognathus-aurifrons(pisces, opistognathidae). Copeia., 3, 469.

In captivity

In the

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

it feeds on

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

ic matter, commonly taking

brine shrimp ''Artemia'' is a genus of aquatic crustaceans also known as brine shrimp or ''Sea-Monkeys, sea monkeys''. It is the only genus in the Family (biology), family Artemiidae. The first historical record of the existence of ''Artemia'' dates back to t ...

mysis shrimp Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in this p ...

, and prepared frozen and pelleted fish food. When other fish come near its territory, it will open its jaw wide and try to warn them off, but it rarely attacks. It is one of the most docile jawfish towards fish of its kind, and can be kept in small groups of 1 individual per 10 gallons.

References

External links

* Yellowhead jawfish Fish of the Caribbean Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by Joseph Cheesman Thompson Fish described in 1905 {{Kurtiformes-stub