Anthias anthias
It is born female and later transforms into male!
An impressive fish of our reefs that resemble those of the tropics.
Their colour varies from pink through to red and they have 3 yellow lines on the sides of their heads. They live in large shoals, usually on rocky bottoms. They prefer the quiet of caves and shipwrecks and the lalf-light of overhangs. We rarely meet them at depths of less than 30 meters. It emerges at night to feed on zooplankton, small crustacea and smaller fishes.
This species is a protogynous hermaphrodite, meaning that individuals first become females and later change to males.
Photo by Theano Dandari
You can observe them in the tanks at the Aquarium of Crete.
