Black-spotted wrasse
| Black-spotted wrasse | ||||||||||||
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Black-spotted wrasse ( Austrolabrus maculatus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Austrolabrus | ||||||||||||
| Steindachner , 1884 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Austrolabrus maculatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Macleay , 1881) |
The black-spotted wrasse ( Austrolabrus maculatus , syn .: Labrichthys maculatus ) is a small wrasse that is endemic to the Australian south coast. It is the only species in its genus.
distribution
There are two separate populations. One lives from Shark Bay in Western Australia , where they are particularly common, to Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia , the other on the coast of New South Wales . The western population lives on scree and on rocky reefs at depths of 10 to 20 meters, the eastern population prefers to stay between sponges and go at depths of up to 40 meters. Young fish live mainly in shallow water between algae and stones.
features
The black-spotted wrasse becomes 20 centimeters long. The upper half of its body is pinkish-brown, with some darker, in males also black points. The underside is pale, white in males. Young fish have a white-rimmed, black, saddle-shaped spot on the top of the tail stem that fades with age.
literature
- Helmut Debelius , Rudie H. Kuiter : Wrasse. Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3973-1 .
Web links
- Blackspot Wrasse on Fishbase.org (English)
- Austrolabrus maculatus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Russell, B., 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2014.