Mandarin Fish

Photo: Lakshmi Sawitri · CC BY

Mandarin fish shelter in the rubble and dead coral bases of the bommies at Te Namo, emerging at dusk in one of nature's most spectacular courtship displays as males compete for females in brief rising spirals. Their vivid blue and orange psychedelic pattern derives not from pigment but from structural coloration — light-refracting cells called cyanophores unique to mandarin fish — and their mucus is so bitter and toxic that they have virtually no predators.