Video by Amanda Williams, Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
A bluestriped lizardfish eats a live blue chromis during the Global Reef Expedition.
Even though we know it must go on all the time, it is rare to see predation among coral reef fish, and rarer still to capture it on video.
The lizard fish (Synodus spp.) is found across the Atlantic and filmed here in the Bahamas. It is a stealthy predator and has such a good camouflage that it is all but invisible on the sand, often dug in too making it a perfect ambush predator. It is also capable of quick bursts of speed, and has a big wide mouth – all of which makes it deadly to small coral fish that swim oblivious over this death-trap in large shoals.
