Goatfish

Goatfish are named for two prominent chin barbels (think a goat's beard) that act as sensory antennae — they brush over sand and detect buried crustaceans and worms via chemoreception. The behaviour is theatrical: the fish hovers nose-down, barbels twitching, then explodes into the sand for the strike.

They school in small groups during transit (yellow saddle, goldsaddle and dash-and-dot goatfish are common Indo-Pacific species) and disperse to forage individually. Often other reef fish trail them, picking off prey the goatfish flushes.

Common across Andaman, Maldives, Bali and Red Sea sand patches. They tolerate close approach when actively feeding.