Batfish are turtle finders. In the Maldives we have two species of batfish, the Circular Batfish and the Longfin Batfish. Both are omnivorous, which means they eat both algae and small invertebrates. They will also pick at jellyfish.

With their flat shape and wide eyes that make them look a little tipsy, they are very recognisable. Batfish are very curious and typically inquisitive with divers. They even will follow divers around and play in their bubbles.

We often see them in small schools, but adults are sometimes solitary. 80% of the time the solitary ones are indicators of turtles in the vicinity. They like to chase turtles to steal some good algae from their shell and remember the fact we wrote about in our blog on Underwater Symbiotic Relationships – Part III. They don’t just like the algae from the shell, batfish also eat the poo of the turtle as soon as it is released! It seems to be tasty and nutritious to them. And every now and then the batfish follows the turtles just to annoy them.

The juvenile of a circular batfish mimics a leaf or debris by floating close to the surface lying on its side. We usually find them in our lagoon, near the jetty and the ropes were the dive boat ties up.

The body of the longfin baby batfish is quite small and has extremely long dorsal, anal and ventral fins. As it grows older the body will grow bigger and the long fins will become shorter.

Next time you go snorkeling or diving pay attention to these to the batfish. They are turtle finders and might lead you to our shelly friends.