©2009 Full Circle Magazine.
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September 2009 Vol6 No9
marine scene
The secret language of Big-Eyes
photographs by Dr Geoff Spiby (geoffspi@mweb.co.za) text by Georgina Jones
Big-eyes are often seen on tropical
reefs, either singly or in groups. They are
also known as glass-eyes or bulls-eyes,
because of their large eyes, which are
specially adapted to support their
carnivorous, nocturnal lifestyle. Big-eyes
tend to live in caves or under overhangs
during the day and emerge at night to hunt
their prey.
They eat large zooplankton, like crab and fish
larvae, small squids and larval bristleworms.
Big-eyes are found in all the warm oceans
over the planet, usually in shallow water around
reefs, though some live in open water or as
deep as 400m. They are deep-bodied
A school of big-eyes in red phase
The same school, moments later, in silver phase
