Razorfish Koh Tao

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Learn about Grooved Razorfish on Koh Tao

Grooved Razorfish are found at deeper dive site locations around Koh Tao and with razor sharp precision, Grooved Razorfish manage to swim in a vertical position and also upside down.

The Grooved Razorfish: Koh Tao's Underwater Marvel | BlackTurtleDive.com

Where to find the Grooved Razorfish on Koh Tao

Grooved Razorfish are a tricky fish to find in the sea around Koh Tao and your best opportunity to see these cool marine animals is close to the sea bed at dive sites such as Chumphon, Southwest and Sail Rock.

They are usually found in groups, swimming a few centimetres above the sea bed in a less populated area of a dive site.

How to identify the Grooved Razorfish

Although the Grooved Razorfish is not an easy fish species to find around Koh Tao, they are one of the easiest to identify.

Grooved Razorfish have an amazing ability to swim in a vertical and inverted position in synchronisation with the rest of the school.

Their body is extremely compressed and almost flat with a maroon-like strip going through the middle of their body.

Grooved Razor Fish Koh Tao
Grooved Razor Fish Koh Tao

Series of Fused Bony Plates

In different marine environments their body can appear to look translucent and their name comes from a series of bony plates that fuse together in a sharp line along their belly that resembles a razor blade.

The eyes of Grooved Razorfish are positioned at the front of their head, which is the start of their long snout-like mouth.

Due to their extremely thin body, it is believed that their eye sight is improved due to the positioning of their eyes, giving them an almost 360-degree field of view.

Grooved Razorfish Characteristics & Behaviour

Life expectancy of a Grooved Razorfish is unknown, including many other behavioural aspects of this intriguing species however, what we do know is very interesting.

Grooved Razorfish buoyancy and trim maybe not be what we are used to, but they are the ultimate masters of neutral buoyancy and perfect trim.

They are so thin that they can be seen taking shelter hovering between Sea Urchin spines whilst they take their time to feed.

Grooved Razor Fish - Marine Life
Grooved Razor Fish – Marine Life

Intriguing Species of Fish

Quite often Grooved Razorfish will stay very close together in their group whilst they swim along the ocean floor and they can be seen in schools as large as 50 individuals at a time.

It is speculated that as they start too mature the Grooved Razorfish have progressively less known natural predators.

There is a combination of reasons provided for this, including their amazing ability to camouflage and the fact that they offer very little nutritional value to predators thanks to their fused plated structure.

Interesting Facts about the Grooved Razorfish

A Grooved Razorfish is closely related to both the Pipefish and Seahorse and they are known to hunt minute crustaceans and zooplankton.

Grooved Razorfish are able to swim in a horizontal position in short, fast bursts in the event they need to escape any nearby threats.

As schooling juveniles Grooved Razorfish are often found at the surface layer of the ocean however, as they start to mature, they are found at much darker and deeper depths.

Grooved Razor Fish Koh Tao Marine Life
Grooved Razor Fish Koh Tao Marine Life