Maximum length: 21 cm

Depth: 3 - 60 m

Anterior body brown, posterior body white with brown spots

and forked tail with 2 brown stripes.

Adults often live in bays, lagoons and on outer reefs,

while juveniles live around black corals and gorgonians.

Mullets are frequent companions.

Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 20 cm

Depth: 2 - 40 m

Solitary in coral-rich reefs.

Hurghada Egypt

Maximum length: 25 cm

Depth: 3 - 50 m

Brown body with 4 - 5 white dorsal spots.

Often found on coral-rich, steep slopes.

Hurghada Egypt

Maximum length: 14 cm

Depth: 9 - 30 m

Juvenile wrasses of this species are active cleaners,

by removing skin parasites from other fish.

When they are not busy with cleaning work,

they seek shelter in black corals, gorgonians and reef caves.

Adults specifically seek out reefs with populations of live coral,

where they search for molluscs and various crustaceans.

The juveniles are brown with a few white spots on the head

which are sparse and usually large, often forming irregular stripes under and behind the eye.

often join together to form irregular stripes.

Males have a large, distinctive black spot on the back of the dorsal fin,

also in the middle of the anal and pelvic fins.

Similar to Bodianus diana

Bangka island North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 20 cm

Depth: 5 - 30 m

Black band on the front body.

Prefers coral-rich outer reef slopes.

Photo 1 ( Juvenile ): Bangka island North Sulawesi

Photos 2 - 3: Moalboal Philippines

 Maximum length: 60 cm

Depth: 3 - 35 m

Upper part of the body is purple at the front, belly and tail are golden yellow.

Swims continuously around the reef.

Not shy, allows a close approach.

Bonaire Caribbean

 Maximum length: 40 cm

Depth: 2 - 30 m

Lives in coral-rich areas with rubble, sand and algae.

Solitary and very vigilant.

Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 36 cm

Depth: 2 - 30 m

Very variable colouration, can vary from green with red areas

to light grey-brownish, usually with small white dots

arranged in longitudinal rows and white spots on the back.

Photo 1: Bangka Island North Sulawesi

Photo 2: Lembeh Strait North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 36 cm

Depth: 5 - 40 m

Not very shy.

It resembles a grouper in its bulky shape.

The basic colour is whitish with grey, vertical bands.

Large adult specimens have bright red zones on the chest, behind the gill covers and on the fins.

Inhabits lagoons, bays and outer reefs.

Foto 1: Bangka island North Sulawesi

Foto 2: Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 50 cm

Depth: 0.5 - 30 m

It has a green body, a blue "broom tail", a yellow pectoral fin and a yellow spot on the gill cover.

It likes to swim alone along reef edges with deep caves and patches of sand or rubble.

Vigilant.

Photos 1 - 2 Female: El Qesir Egypt

Photo 3 + 4 Male: Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 35 cm

Depth: 1 - 30 metres

A large and fairly common wrasse.

In areas where divers and snorkellers are more frequent, this rather solitary species is not very shy.

Embudu Maldives

 Maximum length: 2.30 m

Depth: 1 - 60 m

Adults with strong frontal hump, juveniles with two black eye stripes.

Shy.

Populations in sharp decline in the Indo-Pacific

due to unscrupulous cyanide fishing for Southeast Asian restaurants with live fish.

Photos 1 - 2: Big + Little Brother Egypt

Photos 3 - 4: Embudu Maldives

Maximum length: 50 cm

Depth: 1 - 35 m

Colour Variable from green, brown to yellow.

Shy loner.

Accompanies mullets and other wrasses and waits for prey to be exposed.

Photo 1: Moalboal Philippines

Photo 2: Lembeh Strait North Sulawesi

Photo 3: Bangka island Nord Sulawesi

Photos 4 - 6: Hurghada Egypt

Maximum length: 11 cm

Depth: 2 - 32 m

The photos show a young female, males are much more colorful.

Bangka island North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 8 cm

Depth: 3 - 35 m

Yellow pectoral fin.

Over corals and rubble on outer reefs.

Travelling singly or in loose groups, snapping at zooplankton.

Moalboal Philippines

Maximum length: 10 - 11 cm

Depth: 2 - 25 m

The German name “ Gelbfleck Zwerglippfisch ” comes from a yellow spot,

which the animals have in the terminal phase,

It is found directly behind the base of the pectoral fin,

it has a “ triangle-like ” shape.

This name is also used for the dwarf wrasse Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura,

which also has a yellow spot in the terminal phase,

but differs from Cirrhilabrus ryukyuensis in its overall appearance.

Bangka island North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 30 cm

Depth: 10 - 25 metres

Older fish develop a yellow to reddish area in the lower part of the hind body. 

The juvenile form has a longitudinal row of spots

on the back consisting of light and dark dots.

The initial phase is dark purple to lavender in colour.

Forms schools along the reef.

Not shy, ignores divers.

Bonaire Caribbean

Maximum length: 16 - 17 cm

Depth: 2 - 30 m

Greenish with pinkish markings on a dark background.

Very pale on a white sandy bottom, large males lack the dorsal spots.

Adults are found in reefs and clear lagoons up to a depth of 15 m,

up to 30 m in sand and rubble bottoms.

Food: Snails and crabs

Bangka island North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 20 cm

Depth: 3 - 25 m

Solitary, mostly found on sandy bottoms and shallow lagoons.

Bangka Island North Sulawesi

Maximum length: 35 cm

Depth: 1 - 30 m

Lives in coral-rich lagoons.

Eats small shrimps, crabs and fish living in corals,

which it sucks in at lightning speed with its mouth.

Inverted mouth extended in photo 4

Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 28 cm

Depth: 1 - 30 m

Females yellow with white lower body, upper body blue-black.

Males completely blue.

They have a long snout and live in lagoons, bays and outer reefs,

with the males travelling alone and the females in small harem groups.

They use their long snout to get invertebrates out of cracks.

Photos 1 - 3: El Qesir Egypt

Photo 4: Hurghada Egypt

Maximum length: 12 - 14 cm

Depth: - 30 m

It has a thin, elongated body with a terminal mouth.

The body coloration is bright yellow, with some variations depending on age.

Young and immature females have two black,

white or light yellow spots on the dorsal fin,

(the first at the beginning of the fin and the second in the middle of the dorsal fin)

and a third between the caudal peduncle and the beginning of the caudal fin.

Adult females or young males

only show the two black spots on the dorsal fin.

Adult males only show the first black spot

on the front of the dorsal fin,

a lighter spot directly behind the eye and irregular green to pink lines

greenish to pinkish lines on the face.

The canary wrasse is widespread in the tropical and subtropical waters of the central

waters of the central Indo-Pacific, in an area that extends from the

from the Christmas Islands and Indonesia, Japan, New South Wales

and the Rowley Shoals as well as the Tonga and Solomon Islands.

Bangka island North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 13 cm

Depth: 5 - 20 m

Favour sandy areas, burrow into them to sleep.

Always swimming, very difficult to photograph.

Photos 1 - 2: Moalboal Philippines

Maximum length: 20 cm

Depth: 10 - 65 m

This juvenile fish already shows its typical golden stripes.

This wrasse is usually found below 35 m,

usually in a small group of females with a patrolling male.

A permanent swimmer, it buries itself in the sandy bottom at night.

Food: bristle worms.

Bangka island North Sulawesi

Maximum length: 50 cm

Depth: 2 - 30 metres

In comparison to other Junker Wrasses, they have a bulky, high-backed body and a large head. 

They are unmistakably black and white in colour, with a pattern of vertical stripes.

They generally live as solitary animals, mostly on rocks or rubble at the edge of coral reefs.

Photo 1: Moalboal Philippines

 Maximum length: 50 cm

Depth: 1 - 30 m

Adults are olive green.

Shy loners.

Juveniles between corals and rubble.

Eats invertebrates, especially hard shellfish, excreting the remains as a * sand cloud *.

Photo 1 ( Adult ): Hurghada Egypt

Photos 2 - 3 ( juvenile ): El Quesir Egypt

 Maximum length: 50 cm

Depth: 1 - 20 m

White body with 5 broad and dark transverse bands.

Rarely encountered and shy loner.

Ingests sand to filter out invertebrates.

Hurghada Egypt

Maximum length: 40 cm

Depth: 5 - 35 m

Photos 2 - 3 show juveniles.

Always near the bottom, mimicking young bluehead tilefish.

Adult males are green with blue stripes, while females are brown with dark stripes.

Hurghada Egypt

Maximum length: 35 - 50 cm

Depth: 1 - 35 m

Juvenile.

The males are bluish-green to pale reddish with lavender-colored stripes,

a light band on the back of the pectoral fin and orange lines on the head.

The females are bluish, greenish or grayish,

with 20 - 23 orange stripes on the flanks

and a blue-black spot on the rear edge of the gill cover.

The juveniles are whitish and have three thin orange-red stripes.

Bangka island North Sulawesi

Maximum length: 24 cm

Depth: 10 - 90 m

The picture shows the fish in its juvenile form.

They have a large white spot on the side.

Males have a pale yellow spot in front of the white spot, females have a darker spot.

Juvenile fish have three dark bands on the body, which become smaller as they grow

and become one to three dark spots along the back.

Wrasses live in a harem, which is defended by a single large male.

Species of the genus Iniistius have strongly compressed bodies

and a steep forehead with a firm, knife-like front edge,

which allows them to easily dive into the sand when threatened.

They live on open, clean, sandy areas of lagoons and seashores

and dive into the sand to sleep safely at night or hide in case of danger.

Bangka island North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 40 cm adult.

Depth: 2 - 100 m

Juvenile: They imitate dead leaves with drifting and rocking swimming behaviour.

Found at shallow depths.

Mostly below 20 m, singly or in loose groups.

Eats crustaceans and shell snails, very shy, dives into sand at lightning speed.

Photo 1: Hurghada Egypt

Photos 2 - 3: Lembeh Strait North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 14 cm

Depth: 1 - 40 m

Has cleaning stations in various habitats.

Photo 1: Embudu Maldives

 Maximum length: 12 cm

Depth: 1 - 40 m

Occupies cleaning stations on conspicuous coral formations.

Eats parasites, mucus and skin remnants when cleaning other fish.

El Qesir Egypt

 Maximum length: 11 cm

Depth: 0.5 - 22 m

On the photo is a juvenile, only these are cleaner fish until they are adults, after that no more.

They do not have a permanent home.

When they are adults, they feed on coral polyps.

Hurghada Egypt

Maximum length: 12 cm

Depth: 3 - 30 m

Juvenile: Head with a white base colour and net-like orange stripes.

Single or in small groups over coral, sand or rubble.

Photo 1: Bangka Island North - Sulawesi

Photo 2: Moalboal Philippines

Maximum length: 30 cm

Depth: 2 - 45 m

In the first 2 pictures you can see the juvenile form of this fish.

They are brown with light speckles and imitate the colouring and swimming style of drifting tangs.

Adults can usually be seen individually near the reef, turning over rubble in search of food. 

Photos 1 - 3: Lembeh Strait North Sulawesi

Photo 4: Bangka island North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 35 cm

Depth: 2 - 60 m

Their colour varies, either green with a reddish belly or light with a red longitudinal stripe.

Hunts small fish.

Swims over the bottom.

Curious.

Photo 1: Bangka island Nord Sulawesi

Photo 2: Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 24 cm

Depth: 1 - 25 m

White spot on the root of the tail and a brown lateral stripe.

Solitary, always swimming close to the bottom.

Curious and not very shy.

Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 15 cm

Depth: 1 - 18 m

Their colouring is very variable, from brown to yellow or green, with various other shades or spots.

Males develop long filaments on the caudal fin, reminiscent of a diamond.

Bangka Island North Sulawesi

Maximum length: 22 - 25 cm

Depth: 3 - 40 m

Rarely encountered.

Found on coral-rich reefs in sheltered lagoons.

Feeds mainly on gastropods and various crustaceans.

Male: Reddish to brownish speckled, light spots on the body scales,

orange lines extending from the eyes,

small blue spot on the front of the dorsal fin

and a dark spot on the caudal peduncle.

Female: Densely speckled with light red and dark brown spots,

these spots are often square, interspersed with light bars on the central side,

forming a broad band that becomes darker towards the back.

Small white spot on the upper rear edge of the gill cover.

Juveniles: Black ocellus on the base of the caudal fin.

Bangka island North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 9 cm

Depth: 5 - 30 metres

The male in the photo is in the process of mating, as his fins are raised.

They form harem groups of up to 12 females and several males.

Hunts for zooplankton in open water.

Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 8 cm

Depth: 2 - 35 m

Very difficult to photograph because it moves very quickly

and is always close to its hiding place.

The body is purple-red with yellow lines and a red eye with 2 lines.

Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 25 cm

Depth: 2 - 40 m

Strong, chisel-like teeth that are perfect for cracking

and eating hard-shelled invertebrates.

It is a fast swimmer and always close to hiding places.

Hurghada Egypt

 Maximum length: 9.5 cm

Depth: 1 - 20 m

Lives alone or in pairs, hidden, often overlooked.

Usually in the cover of soft corals, coral branches, sea grass or algae.

Hurghada Egypt

Maximum length: 15 cm

Depth: 5 - 18 m

It lives in various habitats from shallow reefs covered with algae

to deep offshore reefs, there on soft bottoms with sponges and algae hydroid colonies of the genus Aglaophenia.

Usually hides under dense weed zones or in small caves.

This shy fish rarely leaves its cover, and when it does,

only to take a quick look at its surroundings,

to see if everything is safe, because with its small 15cm it is a good snack for larger fish.

In Rudie.H.Kuiter's book “Labridae fishes: Wasses” they are shown in a wide variety of colors.

Its German name comes from the large eyespot diagonally above the pectoral fins.

Bangka island North Sulawesi

 Maximum length: 15 cm

Depth: 8 - 18 m

Lives in various habitats from shallow reefs covered with algae

to deep offshore reefs, where it lives on soft bottoms

with sponges and algae hydroid colonies of the genus Aglaophenia

Mysterious species that usually hides under dense weed zones or in small caves.

or in small caves.

Only rarely does it leave its hiding place to take a quick look at its surroundings,

whether everything is safe, as it avoids larger fish,

which are only too happy to regard it as welcome food.

Lembeh Strait North Sulawesi