"Coral Reef Fish" (clade Percomorpha) are small-to-mid-sized fish from tropical ocean habitats. They are adoptable animals in Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game
Description[]
"Coral reef fish" is a broad term used to describe the select species of fishes that inhabit coral reef ecosystems. These environments are among the most biodiverse communities across all oceans, ranging between 6,000-8,000 species of ray-finned fishes alone. These fish species often have vibrant colours or striking physical features, thus have become very popular in the aquarium trade.
Coral reefs are distributed worldwide with large concentrations found near the coasts of Madagascar, Central America and the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and Australia, and across the Pacific Ocean. Similar to rainforests, coral reefs are found around the Earth's equator. Unfortunately, coral reefs are increasingly prone to what is referred to as "bleaching", where coral ejects its symbiotic algae and begins to die.
The clade of ray-finned fishes known as Percomorpha is the most speciose, or rich in species, group of living vertebrates. From tiny cleaner fishes, to colorful schoolers, to large predators, percomorphs fill countless niches on the reef. Threats that these fish face include habitat loss, overcollection for the home aquarium trade, overfishing, and more. As most saltwater fishes can not yet be bred in captivity, these factors put the sustained diversity of coral reef fish at risk.
Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game[]
Coral reef fish are introduced with the New Shores expansion as one of several vivarium animals. They can be considered to be a saltwater equivalent to the Malawi cichlids, as both offer a co-species popularity bonus while also being composed of multiple species.
The vivarium card's artwork features five species, from top to bottom and left to right:
- Regal Blue Tang (Paracanthurus hepatus) - which goes by many other names, including the hippo blue tang and palette tang. Not to be confused with other "blue tang" surgeonfish.
- Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator) - a relatively large, territorial fish which is infamous for both its beauty and its attitude towards its own kind.
- Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) - perhaps the world's most iconic fish, thanks to the film Finding Nemo and a subsequent craze for it in the pet trade.
- Double-Saddle Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ulietensis) - merely one member of a diverse genus that includes over 90 species of reef fish worldwide.
- Flame Angelfish (Centropyge loricula) - a striking and fittingly fiery member of the "pygmy angelfish."
Two additional species are featured on the game's boxart, but not in-game artwork:
- Bluehead Wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum) - a small species of western Atlantic wrasse which, as a cleaner fish, serves an important role in its ecosystem.
- Threadfin Butterflyfish (Chaetodon auriga) - known for its trailing dorsal filament, this is one of the most well-adapted and common butterflyfish in captivity.
New Shore's coral reef fishes are all kept in both private and public aquaria. Additionally, with the exception of the bluehead wrasse, they all hail from the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific biogeographic region.
Gallery[]
Zoo Tycoon: The Board Game - New Shores[]
Reference images[]
Trivia[]
- The Great Barracuda of Zoo Tycoon: Marine Mania is a predatory coral reef percomorph.
- While not members of Percomorpha, many other adoptable fishes across the franchise would also broadly qualify as coral reef fish. This includes the Green Moray Eel and numerous sharks and rays.
- Two of the presented reference photos for New Shores' illustration can be tied back to the ambient animals of Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania.
The unused blenny design can be seen on top.
- One such photo appears to be a species of lionfish. While the specific identity of the lionfish in Marine Mania is unknown, the one used as a reference for New Shores was the infamous red lionfish (Pterois volitans).
- The other features the mandarin dragonet (Synchiropus splendidus), which seemingly appeared in Marine Mania concept art as an unused alternate design for the the blenny.
- The reference pictures for New Shores also include the porcupine pufferfish (Diodon holocanthus) and a mixture of a wide array of schooling fishes not present in the actualized product.
