The big eye is a funny little fish always found lurking in caves or dark depressions on and around reefs. These caves and crevices are very important for shelter by day, because these small fish are nocturnal..
They are a slightly elongated fish with the head taking up 1/3 of its length. They have a large round eye, and have small pectoral fins. The pelvic fins are slightly larger and thicker. The caudal or tail is short with no apparent v or u shape to it.
They appear to be orange to a silvery green in colour.
These small bigeye also have a type of reflection built into their bodies, because they reflect light both in the daytime and night.
When these fish are young juveniles they are not nocturnal, and swim around in the clear daylight. After about one year old they become nocturnal and only come out at night.
Often when I have been out diving during the day looking for Crayfish or checking out caves etc, these small fish are often encounted in small almost motionless schools.
As soon as night falls and it becomes dark these little fish come out of hiding, to swim in the open water in search of swimming bristle worms, sea lice and other small crustaceans that also come out at night.
These small fish are born out in the open water and once they reach the size of around 2cm they settle down on the reefs. I believe they grow to about 6 to 8 cm in length.
I do not know if these small fish venture far from their layers during the night foraging, though I suspect that they do not.