Learn & Explore

Reef Lagoon Field Guide

Learn about the 13 species of bony fish and rays that call the Academy's Reef Lagoon habitat home.

Learn about the fish that call our Reef Lagoon home. Rays are part of a group of fish called elasmobranchs, whose skeletons are made of soft, flexible cartilage, while the other fish in the lagoon are teleosts, or bony fishes.

Cownose ray

Scientific name: Rhinoptera javanica
Status: Near threatened
Diet: Clams, oysters, other invertebrates
Reproduction: Ovoviviparous—rays produce eggs that remain inside the mother’s body until they hatch, resulting in a live birth

Blue-spotted ribbontail ray

Scientific name: Taeniura lymma
Status: Near threatened
Diet: Mollusks, worms, shrimp, clams
Reproduction: Ovoviviparous

^{Photo credit: Jens Petersen, CC BY via Wikimedia Commons}

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Honeycomb ray

Scientific name: Himantura uarnak
Status: Vulnerable
Diet: Crabs, shrimps, bivalves, gastropods, worms, jellyfish, bony fishes
Reproduction: Viviparous

^{Photo credit: Steven Walling, CC BY via Wikimedia Commons}

Bluespotted stingray

Scientific name: Neotrygon kuhlii
Status: Data deficient
Diet: Shrimp, crabs
Reproduction: Ovoviviparous

^{Photo credit: Bernard Dupont, CC BY via Wikimedia Commons}

Diamond fish (or Mono)

Scientific name: ​Monodactylus argenteus
Status: Not yet assessed
Diet: Plankton and detritus
Reproduction: Broadcast spawners; males and females shed gametes into the water, where fertilization occurs

^{Photo credit: Richard Ling, CC BY}

Convict surgeon

Scientific name: Acanthurus triostegus
Status: Least concern
Diet: Benthic algae
Reproduction: Oviparous broadcast spawners; found in large groups (up to several hundred) that exhibit mass spawning behavior

^{Photo credit: briangratwicke, CC BY}

Copperband butterflyfish

Scientific name: Chelmon rostratus
Status: Least concern
Diet: Benthic invertebrates, which it finds in rock cervices with its elongated snout
Reproduction: Oviparous

^{Photo credit: Ruben Undheim, CC BY}

Indian pompano

Scientific name: Trachinotus mookalee
Status: Not yet assessed
Diet: Small fishes and crustaceans
Reproduction: Broadcast spawners​