Turns out more fishes eat coral...

Psuedocheilinus hexataenia which feed on Pocillopora; Photo from Berumen & Rotjan 2010

         Turns out that while I was busy studying fish that prey on other fish and crustaceans,  I was missing all this cool information on scientists finding out that there are more fishes that eat coral. And what is way cooler is that many of these fishes are parrotfishes, which I always learned (and taught all my coral reef monitoring volunteers!) were the saviors of corals because they ate seaweeds that could smother corals and impede their growth.
          Turns out, some parrotfish species are actually detrimental to corals, feeding even on their reproductive parts and causing serious colony damage. Old news? Let´s say the evidence keeps accumulating and the subject has recently shined, but I have found records as late as the 80s. Coral reefs never cease to amaze me! I applaud the curiosity of my colleagues who are always finding new and really interesting information.

Some coral bite pictures:
The fish is Arthron diadematus biting an Acropora colony.
Believe it or not c are pieces of coral from fish guts, imagine trying to pass on of those down!

from: Berumen & Rotjan 2010

These other pics show bite marks on coral from yet other fishes: the puffer Arothron meleagris and the parrotfish Chlorurus sordidus.

from: Jayewardene et al. 2009