Flagfin Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pteragogus flagellifer
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 20cm
Identification: TP/IP - Shades of green to yellow-orange with grayish scale spots; yellow-green lips and purplish markings on cheek; deep body. TP - First two dorsal spines with long filaments.
Favourite: Solitary and cryptic.
Hide-out: Among branches of soft coral or weedy areas in 2-30m.
Location: Indo-Asian Pacific - E. Africa to Papua New Guinea. S. Japan to Great Barrier Reef.

Cockerel Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pteragogus enneacanthus
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 12cm
Identification: TP/IP - Mottled shades of red-brown; dark spots on lateral line (may join to form thin stripe); ocellated brown spot on gill cover. TP - Filaments on first two dorsal rays.
Favourite: Solitary and cryptic.
Hide-out: Among stony and soft corals and weeds in 3-25m.
Location: Asian Pacific - Indonesia to Australia and Coral Sea, north to Mariana Is. in Micronesia.

Smalltail Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pseudojuloides cerasinus
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 12cm
Identification: TP - Green upper body, blue below; bicolor blue and yellow mid-body stripe, wide black tail margin.
Favourite: Form small groups.
Hide-out: Rubble, weed and coral areas of lagoon and seaward reefs to 61m, usually over 20m.
Location: Indo-West Pacific - E. Africa to Samoa and Hawaii. S. Japan to Australia.

Royal Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pseudojuloides sevemsi
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 10cm
Identification: TP - Large dark patch from eyes to mid-body, blue, green and yellow behind; violet snout joins violet stripe below eye to beyond pectoral base, blue margins on tail.
Hide-out: Sand and rubble bottoms in 20-40m.
Location: Indo-Asian Pacific - Sri Lanka to Indonesia and Philippines, north to S.W. Japan.

Kaleidios Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pseudojuloides kaleidios
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 10cm
Identification: TP - Green to bluish; broad blackish stripe on upper side and narrower blue stripe immediately below; bright blue snout followed by salmon stripe down back.
Favourite: Solitary or with groups of IP.
Hide-out: Rubble bottoms in 15-40m.
Location: Indo-Asian Pacific - Maldives to Indonesia.

Atavia Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pseudojuloides atavai
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 13cm
Identification: IP - Upper head and back reddish brown, white below separated by bicolor black and pale blue stripe. TP - Pink forebody with orange spots or vertical streaks and bands on head, gray rear body and tail with white triangular rear margin.
Favourite: Solitary or groups.
Hide-out: Outer reefs in 12-31m.
Location: South Central Pacific - French Polynesia to Pitcaim Is.

Torpedo Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pseudocoris heteroptera
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 20cm
Identification: TP - Blue-green head and forebody with alternating yellow and blackish bars behind; dark patch behind eye.
Favourite: Form groups well above bottom.
Hide-out: Mixed sand, rubble and coral areas with periodic strong currents in 15-24m.
Location: Indo-Asian Pacific - Chagos to S. Japan and Papua New Guinea.

Tailspot Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pseudocheilinus ocellatus
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 8.5cm
Identification: TP - Magenta to red body; often display thin vertical white lines on side, white-ringed black ocellated spot on tail base, curved magenta spot surrounded by yellow markings below eye.
Favourite: Solitary.
Hide-out: Outer reef areas in 20-60m.
Location: Pacific - S.W. Japan, Palau and Coral Sea to Pitcaim Is. east of French Polynesia.

Fourstripe Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pseudocheilinus tetrataenia
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 7.5cm
Identification: TP - Four orange to green stripes alternate with 3 blue stripes on back; bluish to greenish to brownish belly.
Favourite: Solitary; cryptic, hide in small recesses of coral or rubble.
Hide-out: Seaward reefs in 6-44m.
Location: Pacific - Bonin Is. in S. Japan to Palau, Hawaii and French Polynesia.

Eightstripe Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pseudocheilinus octotaenia
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 13.5cm
Identification: TP - Pale to dark red to orange with light to dark purple stripes, sometimes with yellow stripes between.
Favourite: Solitary.
Hide-out: Coral or rubble patches on seaward reefs in 2-50m.
Location: Indo-Pacific - E. Africa to Hawaii and Ducie I. east of French Polynesia. S.W. Japan to Australia.

Disappearing Wrasse

Scientific Name: Pseudocheilinus evanidus
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 8cm
Identification: TP - Red to orange with thin white lines on side; white band under eye, bluish vertical streak on cheek, frequently with 5-6 diffuse pale bars.
Favourite: Solitary and cryptic.
Hide-out: Rubble and coral patches on seaward slopes in 6-40m.
Location: Indo-Pacific - Red Sea and E. Africa to Hawaii and French Polynesia. Izu Is. in S. Japan to Australia.

Southern Wrasse

Scientific Name: Stethojulis notialis
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 10cm
Identification: IP - Green back gradating to pale underside with fine dark reticulations; broad yellow stripe from upper head to upper tail base.
Favourite: Form small groups.
Hide-out: Mixed botoms of sand, rubble, weeds, and coral, usually less than 6m.
Location: West Pacific - Fiji, New Caledonia and Norfolk I.

Cutribbon Wrasse

Scientific Name: Stethojulis interrupta
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 13cm
Identification: TP - Orangish rust upper body, green below; pair of blue to green stripes, one on back, other extends from snout to tail usually interrupted on forebody.
Favourite: Form groups.
Hide-out: Reef flats and coastal shallows to 18m, but usually less than 3m.
Location: East Indo-Pacific - E. Andaman Sea and W. Australia to Tuamotu Is. in French Polynesia. S. Japan to E. Australia.

Surge Wrasse

Scientific Name: Thalassoma purpureum
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 43cm
Identification: TP - Green to blue; pink to lavender bands on head, irregular purple stripe on back and pair of reddish stripes on side.
Favourite: Form groups.
Hide-out: Surge zone of reef flats and rocky coasts to 5m.
Location: Indo-Pacific - Red Sea and E. Africa to Hawaii and Easter I. in the southeast Pacific. S. Japan to Australia.

Sixbar Wrasse

Scientific Name: Thalassoma hardwicke
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 20cm
Identification: TP/IP - Pale green to whitish with 5-6 black saddles that gradually decrease in size towards tail; pink bands on head, purple to black band on rear edge of gill cover.
Favourite: Form groups.
Hide-out: Coastal, lagoon and outer reefs to 15m.
Location: Indo-Pacific - E. Africa to Line Is., Austral and Tuamotu Is. in French Polynesia. S. Japan to E. Australia.

Ladder Wrasse

Scientific Name: Thalassoma trilobatum
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 30cm
Identification: TP - Salmon-pink to orange; two stripes formed by vertically elongate green to blue-green rectangles.
Favourite: Solitary or in pursuit of females.
Hide-out: Shallow reefs and rocky shores exposed to wave action.
Location: Indo-Pacific - E. Africa to Pitcaim Is. east of French Polynesia. S.W. Japan to Great Barrier Reef.

Jansen's Wrasse

Scientific Name: Thalassoma jansenii
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 20cm
Identification: TP/IP - Large black patch from snout to behind pectoral fin followed by 2 wide black bars with white or yellow between, yellow on tail base; underside of head and forebelly white to green.
Favourite: Form groups.
Hide-out: Coastal, lagoon and outer reefs to 10m.
Location: Indo-West Pacific - Maldives to Fiji. S. Japan to E. Australia.

Fivestripe Wrasse

Scientific Name: Thalassoma quinquevittatum
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 16cm
Identification: TP - Purple head with green bands, green upper body, yellow below; pair of purple wavy-edged stripes on upper body, purple tail borders.
Favourite: Form aggregations.
Hide-out: Lagoon and seaward reefs to 18m, often in surge channels less than 5m.
Location: Indo-Pacific - E. Africa to Micronesia, Hawaii and French Polynesia. S. japan to Australia and Lord Howe I.

Slender Wrasse

Scientific Name: Oxycheilinus orientalis
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 17cm
Identification: Slender body; salmon to brown; several pale, somewhat indistinct, ragged body bars.
Favourite: Solitary or form small groups.
Hide-out: Sand, rubble and areas of dense algae in lagoons and around reefs in 18-70m.
Location: West Pacific - Kalimantan (Borneo) in Indonesia to Samoa. S.W. Japan to S.E. Australia.

Celebes Wrasse

Scientific Name: Oxycheilinus celebicus
Family: Wrasses - Labridae
Maximum Size: 24cm
Identification: Variegated shades of brown with several dark blotches on rear body; pink to orange lines radiating from eye; elongate snout.
Favourite: Solitary.
Hide-out: Coral-rich areas on slopes of lagoon and seaward reefs in 3-30m.
Location: Asian Pacific - S. Japan, Kalimantan (Borneo) in Indonesia to Solomon Is.