''Haemulon'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, with a few species known from the eastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)
New species of ''Haemulon'' (Teleostei: Haemulidae) from the northeastern Brazilian coast.
''Copeia'' (1999)2 447-52. This genus is considered to be one of the most important fish groups of the

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

due to its commercial value and crucial ecological role.Pereira, P. H. C. and B. P. Ferreira. (2012)
Agonistic behaviour among ''Haemulon'' spp. (Actinopterygii: Haemulidae) and other coral reef fishes in northeastern Brazil.
''Cybium'' 36(2) 361-67.

Species

The 23 or so species in this genus include:Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds
''Haemulon'': Species.
FishBase. 2017. * ''

Haemulon album ''Haemulon album'', the white margate, grey grunt, grunt, Margaret fish, Margaret grunt, margate, margate fish, ronco blanco, viuda, white grunt, white pogret, or yellow grunt is a species of ray-finned fish, a large grunt belonging to the family ...

G. Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in nat ...

, 1830 (white margate) * ''

Haemulon aurolineatum ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

'' G. Cuvier, 1830 (tomtate grunt) * ''

Haemulon bonariense ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

'' G. Cuvier, 1830 (black grunt) * ''

Haemulon boschmae ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

'' ( Metzelaar, 1919) (bronzestripe grunt) * '' Haemulon carbonarium'' Poey, 1860 (caesar grunt) * ''

Haemulon chrysargyreum ''Haemulon chrysargyreum'', the smallmouth grunt, bronze grunt, or yellowstripe grunt, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grunt belonging to the family Haemulidae. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean. Description ''H. chrysargyreu ...

'' Günther, 1859 (smallmouth grunt) * ''

Haemulon flaviguttatum ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

'' T. N. Gill, 1862 (yellowspotted grunt) * '' Haemulon flavolineatum'' ( Desmarest, 1823) (French grunt) * ''

Haemulon macrostomum ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

'' Günther, 1859 (Spanish grunt) * ''

Haemulon maculicauda ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

'' (T. N. Gill, 1862) (spottail grunt) * ''

Haemulon melanurum ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

'' (

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

, 1758) (cottonwick grunt) * ''

Haemulon parra ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

'' ( Desmarest, 1823) (sailor's grunt) * ''

Haemulon plumierii ''Haemulon plumierii'', the white grunt or common grunt, is a species of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish in the family Haemulidae native to the western Atlantic Ocean. It grows to a length of about and is a silvery-cream color, with narrow yello ...

'' ( Lacépède, 1801) (white grunt) * '' Haemulon schrankii'' Agassiz, 1831 * ''

Haemulon sciurus The bluestriped grunt (''Haemulon sciurus''), also known as the boar grunt, golden grunt, humpback grunt, redmouth grunt, or yellow grunt, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grunt belonging to the family Haemulidae. It is found in the weste ...

'' ( G. Shaw, 1803) (bluestriped grunt) * '' Haemulon scudderii'' T. N. Gill, 1862 (grey grunt) * '' Haemulon serrula'' G. Cuvier, 1830 * '' Haemulon sexfasciatum'' T. N. Gill, 1862 (greybar grunt) * '' Haemulon squamipinna'' L. A. Rocha & I. M. L. Rosa, 1999 * '' Haemulon steindachneri'' ( D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1882) (chere-chere grunt) * ''

Haemulon striatum ''Haemulon'' is a genus of fish in the grunt family known as the scaled-fin grunts. Most are found in the western Atlantic Ocean, with a few species known from the eastern Pacific Ocean.Rocha, L. A. and I. L. Rosa. (1999)New species of ''Haemul ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) (striped grunt) * '' Haemulon vittatum'' (Poey, 1860) (boga)

Description

Fish of this genus are oblong in shape and have large mouths.Hong, S. L. (1977)
Review of eastern Pacific ''Haemulon'' with notes on juvenile pigmentation.
''Copeia'' 1977(3) 493-501. They have scales over the rays of their second dorsal and anal fins, and the second anal spine is larger than the third. The inside of the mouth is usually bright red. Juveniles of the genus look similar to each other, but the variation in the appearance of the adults is great.

Diet

Some ''Haemulon'' species eat

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

in the open water, but most seek small prey on the seabed.Rocha, L. A., et al. (2008)
Historical biogeography and speciation in the reef fish genus ''Haemulon'' (Teleostei: Haemulidae).
''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 48 918-28. Fish of the grunt family are nocturnal feeders, venturing in

schools A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...

from the cover of the reefs around sunset to find food. The schools disperse as individuals go hunting, and then reform as morning approaches and they prepare to return to the reef.Burke, N. C. (1995)
Nocturnal foraging habitats of French and bluestriped grunts, ''Haemulon flavolineatum'' and ''H. sciurus'', at Tobacco Caye, Belize.
''Environmental Biology of Fishes'' 42 365-74.

Behaviour

''Haemulon'' species are common members of shallow reef fish communities in their range. Their schools can have hundredsPereira, P. H. C., et al. (2011)
Mixed-species schooling behavior and protective mimicry involving coral reef fish from the genus ''Haemulon'' (Haemulidae).
''Neotropical Ichthyology'' 9(4) 741-46. or thousands of fish, including adults and juveniles. Schools can be made up of several different ''Haemulon'' species; for example, '' H. squamipinna'' and '' H. aurolineatum'' may associate with each other. ''Haemulon'' spp. have also been observed in schools with grunts of other genera, such as '' Anisotremus virginicus'', and fish of different families, such as the snapper '' Lutjanus alexandrei'', the

goatfish The goatfishes are perciform fish of the family Mullidae. The family is also sometimes referred to as the red mullets, which also refers more narrowly to the genus '' Mullus''. The family name and the English common name mullet derived from La ...

'' Pseudupeneus maculatus'', and the

jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

'' Carangoides bartholomaei''. Other fish tend to join large ''Haemulon'' schools for protection. Sometimes they join a school simply for the protection offered by a large mass of fish, but some species engage in protective

mimicry In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry f ...

in a school. Unrelated fish that resemble ''Haemulon'' in color, size, and shape join the school to hide from predators, even mimicking the swimming style, movements, and postures of the ''Haemulon''. Fish that do this include the goatfish ''

Mulloidichthys martinicus The yellow goatfish (''Mulloidichthys martinicus''), also known as yellowsaddle, is a species of goatfish native to the Atlantic Ocean around the coasts of Africa and the Americas. This species can reach a total length of , but most reach length ...

'', the

parrotfish Parrotfishes are a group of about 90 fish species regarded as a Family (biology), family (Scaridae), or a subfamily (Scarinae) of the wrasses. With about 95 species, this group's largest species richness is in the Indo-Pacific. They are found ...

'' Sparisoma axillare'', and the

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

Harengula clupeola ''Harengula'' is a genus of herrings that occur mostly in the western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, with one species in the eastern Pacific Ocean. There are currently four described species. Species * '' Harengula clupeola'' (C ...

''. ''M. martinicus'', in particular, stays with groups of its own species while sheltering in the reefs, but when it enters the open water column and becomes visible to predators, it tends to join schools of ''

'', which it closely resembles. It assumes the posture of the grunts and blends into the group.Krajewski, J. P., et al. (2004)
The association of the goatfish ''Mulloidichthys martinicus'' with the grunt ''Haemulon chrysargyreum'': An example of protective mimicry.
''Biota Neotropica'' 4(2) 1-4. Despite their general preference for close association with other fish, some ''Haemulon'' spp. can be

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

and display aggressive behaviors. Larger individuals are more likely to act aggressively, and this behavior is more common at certain times of the day, such as early morning. Like other members of their family, these fish produce a grunting sound by grinding their

pharyngeal teeth Pharyngeal teeth are teeth in the pharyngeal arch of the throat of cyprinids, suckers, and a number of other fish species otherwise lacking teeth.spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...

behavior of these fish has not been observed.

Systematics

''Haemulon'' is split by some authorities into two genera, these workers suggest that ''Haemulon'' ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' is polyphyletic because molecular studies showed that ''H. chrysargyreum'' clustered with '' Xenistius californiensis'', rendering ''Haemulon'' as

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

if ''

Xenistius ''Xenistius'' is a genus of grunts native to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Species The currently recognized species in this genus are: * '' Xenistius californiensis'' ( Steindachner, 1876) (Californian salema) * '' Xenistius peruanus'' Hildebrand, ...

'' was not included. The genus '' Brachygenys'' Poey, 1868 was revived to include ''Xenistius californiensis'', ''Haemulon chrysargyreum'', '' Xenistius peruanus'' and ''

Xenocys jessiae ''Xenocys jessiae'', the black-striped salema, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grunt belonging to the family Haemulidae. It is endemic to the eastern Pacific Ocean. Description ''Xenocys jessiae'' has a relatively slender, elongated b ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q772044 Haemulinae Ray-finned fish genera Taxa named by Georges Cuvier