Spanish Hogfish (Bodianus rufus)

Adult Spanish hogfish are a deep red to purple on the upper fore-body with a yellow head, belly, caudal fin, anal fin and caudal edge of dorsal fin. In juveniles the dorsal color is dark blue to purple-blue.

This fish inhabits rocky areas or coral reefs of the Western Atlantic from southern Florida to Bermuda to a depth of up to 150ft. It is also common in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean to southern Brazil. They like to feed on benthic invertebrates, brittle stars, crustaceans, mollusks, and sea urchins, and crabs. Juveniles actively pick parasites from larger fishes.

Males defend territories with harems of females. Females spawn almost every day. Males spend only half the time that females do in foraging; the balance of their time is spent in social interactions and mating.

When fully grown, these fish will reach sizes of over 1 foot and are one of my favorite fish because of they are a colorful Caribbean fish and generally get along well with all others in an aquarium population.