Moorish idol

무어리시아이돌

The Moorish idol is a flat reef fish with black, white and yellow vertical bands and a long white filament trailing from its dorsal fin. Its elongated snout reaches into crevices to pick sponges and small animals.

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At a glance

Class: Fish
Lives in: Coral reefs near the Maldives
Diet: Eats both plants and meat (omnivore)
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN LC)
Habitat: coral reefs

Quick answers

Where does the Moorish idol live?

It lives in coral reefs of the Indian and Pacific oceans. On the globe you can find it near Coral reefs near the Maldives.

What does the Moorish idol eat?

Its diet: eats both plants and meat (omnivore).

Is the Moorish idol endangered?

It is listed as Least Concern (IUCN LC).

The Moorish idol is a flat, disc-shaped fish of warm coral reefs. Its body has bold black, white and yellow vertical bands, and a long white filament trails from its dorsal fin like a flag. It is the only living member of its family, the Zanclidae.

It has one of the widest ranges of reef fish. It lives across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the east coast of Africa to Hawaii and Easter Island, and in the eastern Pacific from the Gulf of California to Peru. Many people know it as Gill in the film Finding Nemo. Its tall dorsal fin and bold stripes make it one of the easiest reef fish to recognise. It is a relict, with extinct relatives known only from fossils.

Food and home

The Moorish idol has a long snout that can poke into crevices. It uses it to pick at sponges and other small animals,. It is listed as Least Concern and is found on reefs, often in pairs or small groups. Carl Linnaeus first described the fish in 1758, with 'Indian Seas' as its type locality. Georges Cuvier gave it its own genus in 1831.

Where does the name come from?

The odd name may come from fishermen in parts of Southeast Asia who respected the fish, releasing it and bowing after catching it. The genus name Zanclus comes from a Greek word for sickle, describing the curved fin. The species name cornutus means horned, from small bony bumps above the eyes. Unlike surgeonfishes, it has no spines on the base of its tail, which is one clue that it is a family of its own.

Fun facts

Gill, the leader of the tank gang in the film "Finding Nemo", is a Moorish idol.
The Moorish idol is the only living member of its family, so it is sometimes called a relict.
Gill in Finding Nemo is a Moorish idol.
The first scientific description was by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.