Porkfish

The Porkfish is one of the most strikingly patterned grunt species in the Caribbean, featuring a body of alternating bright yellow and silvery-blue horizontal stripes accented by two prominent black vertical bars — one running through the eye and another behind the operculum. This bold color scheme makes it one of the most photogenic and recognizable fish on Caribbean reefs. Juveniles display a completely different pattern, with a yellow head, white body, and two black horizontal stripes that gradually transition to the adult pattern as the fish matures to its full size of approximately 12 inches.

In the wild, Anisotremus virginicus is found throughout the Western Atlantic, from Bermuda and Florida south through the Caribbean to Brazil. Adults are commonly seen on coral reefs at depths of 2 to 20 meters, where they form loose aggregations near large coral heads and reef structures during the day. Interestingly, juvenile Porkfish serve as cleaner fish, establishing cleaning stations where they pick parasites from larger fish — a behavior that is unusual among grunts and is eventually abandoned as they grow into adults that feed on crustaceans, mollusks, and echinoderms.

In the aquarium, the Porkfish is an intermediate-level species that is fairly hardy once properly acclimated. It requires a minimum tank size of 125 gallons and does well in FOWLR setups with other robust Caribbean species. Its active, curious personality makes it an engaging aquarium inhabitant, and it readily accepts a variety of frozen and prepared foods. While it is not reef-safe due to its invertebrate diet, it is a popular choice for Caribbean biotope aquariums and large community fish-only setups.