They aren’t the most beautiful fish in the sea, but the labahita may just be what the Tubbataha Reefs need to regenerate after being bruised by the intrusions of two foreign vessels earlier this year. With the presence of labahita, also known as surgeonfish, two atolls in Tubbataha may heal in 30 to 40 years from the damage inflicted on them by the groundings of a US Navy minesweeper in January and a Chinese fishing boat in April, an expert said. On the eve of Coral Triangle Day, the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Philippines paid tribute to the reef-dwelling surgeonfish for its potential pivotal role in the regeneration of the World Heritage Site located in a remote spot in the Sulu Sea.

Yap, D. (2013, June 9). Lowly ‘labahita’ may yet help heal Tubbataha atolls. Philippine Daily Inquirer, pp. A1, A20.