Wrasse Id please
- Thread starter MattL22
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All I can say with any certainty is it's a Halichoeres sp. wrasse. Without a decent photo, only objective speculation can be made to what particular species.
eatbreakfast
Fish Nerd
A number of Halichoeres species serve as cleaners on the reef as juvenile and initial phase fish. That is actually what the pattern that your fish and that of several other species is advertising. It is so effective that a species of grouper mimics the pattern to get close to prey. The species that have that pattern, or close to it, through initial phase are: Haliochoeres chlorocephala, H. chrysotaenis, H. cosmetus, H. kallochroma, H. leucurus, H. melanurus, H. richmondi, and H. rubricephalus. We can safely rule out chlorocephala and kallochroma because they are not encountered in the hobby. We can also rule out cosmetus because the striping on the lower half of the body, near the belly, are fainter in cosmetus, this is not the case with your fish. We are also able to rule out chrysotaenia, melanurus, leucurus and richmondi based on your last picture because of how there is a break in the striping after the eye. The latter 4 species the stripes run continuously from the snout to the caudal peduncle, they change color from initial to terminal phase, but the pattern remains. In rubricephalus the patterns disappear completely. This is what is occurring with your fish.
3 black spots
Also this fish picks parasites off my yellow tang and recently my Midas blenny has been swimming up to him In a way that says clean me please
Fish N Frags
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Looks to be a juvenile H. Melanurus. Mine are not very aggressive towards other wrasses. They are the secret weapon to keeping frag tanks and displays free of most pests. HTH.
I've had three melanarus wrasse's over the years and that does not scream to me that it is one. I disagree with all of the above posts that it is a melanarus. :xd:
