Yellow Tangs Engaged in Ritual . . . ?

[Maritimer]

At the local public Aquarium, and as the kessils were fading through the bluer end of the spectrum, caught a pair of our CB yellow tangs engaged in a ritual of some sort - possibly aggression?

They'd swim up to one of the corals (artificial), point their noses at the surface and gently touch tails - then down to the sand and do the same again. A visitor I spoke with (who keeps a reef tank) said he watched them do it for close to 40 minutes!

So ... what are they up to here?

~Bruce

 

[Crabs McJones]

At the local public Aquarium, and as the kessils were fading through the bluer end of the spectrum, caught a pair of our CB yellow tangs engaged in a ritual of some sort - possibly aggression?

They'd swim up to one of the corals (artificial), point their noses at the surface and gently touch tails - then down to the sand and do the same again. A visitor I spoke with (who keeps a reef tank) said he watched them do it for close to 40 minutes!

So ... what are they up to here?

~Bruce

Some kind of courtship maybe?

 

[SaltLifer]

Interesting. Looks more like dancing than aggression haha. @4FordFamily , what say you?

 

[SDReefer]

Maybe it's a mating ritual? Very interesting!

 

[Maritimer]

It's definitely a dance of some sort, but is it a tango or a sabre-dance?!

~Bruce

 

[Crabs McJones]

It's definitely a dance of some sort, but is it a tango or a sabre-dance?!

~Bruce

I prefer river dance :P

 

[4FordFamily]

It appears to be some courtship-like dancing or the like, to me!