Important corallivores include butterflyfish and angelfish and are susceptible to removal for the aquarium trade. Groupers and snappers are important predatory fish and are some of the most significant commercial finfish. Other predatory fish include bar jacks and barracudas. Other commercially significant species include hogfish, spanish hogfish, triggerfish and grunt. Fish community structure is regulated by numerous biotic processes including competition, predation, and recruitment limitation.
Predation is another important factor structuring fish assemblages.
Predation contributes to structuring fish communities, sometimes revealing a negative relationship between predator and prey-fish densities. Most reef fishes have planktonic larval stages and are subject to high mortality and low recruitment. Reefs can act as sources or sinks of larvae over various spatial scales. The anatomical features used to identify individual fish speciesinclude fins, spines, eyes, mouth, and gills. The following diagrams illustrate some of these distinctive features.