Harlequin Wrasse
| Harlequin Wrasse | ||||||||||||
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Harlequin Wrasse ( Choerodon fasciatus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Choerodon fasciatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Günther , 1867) |
The harlequin wrasse ( Choerodon fasciatus ) lives in two separate populations in the tropical western Pacific . The northern occurs around the Ryūkyū Islands and Taiwan , the southern from the Great Barrier Reef on the coast of Queensland to New Caledonia and Vanuatu . It mainly inhabits outer reefs and can be found at depths of 5 to 35 meters.
features
The harlequin wrasse has a massive, tall body. It can be 40 centimeters long. The head is beefy, the mouth has a muzzle, with four large, protruding teeth in the lower jaw and two in the upper jaw, which grip into gaps in the lower jaw teeth. The body is patterned alternately by seven to eight orange and white, bluish or blackish transverse bands. The long dorsal fin of the harlequin wrasse is supported by 12 hard rays and 8 soft rays, the anal fin has 3 hard and 10 soft rays. The pectoral fins have two divided and 14 undivided fin rays. Young fish have an eye spot on the front and rear end of the dorsal fin and on the anal fin , which disappears with increasing age. Otherwise they already resemble adults. In contrast to the Bodianus species, there is also no sexual dimorphism .
Way of life
The harlequin wrasse is territorial and has large territories . It is a loner and mainly eats hard-shelled invertebrates such as molluscs , crustaceans and echinoderms , but also worms. When looking for food, he often lifts stones with his powerful teeth in order to grab prey underneath.
literature
- Hans A. Baensch , Helmut Debelius, Horst Moosleitner: The common care of invertebrates and tropical marine fish in the aquarium. Mergus, Melle 1997, ISBN 3-88244-110-0 ( Sea Water Atlas. Volume 1).
- Dieter Eichler, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish. Central Indo-Pacific. Year, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-86132-225-0 .
- Ewald Lieske, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish of the world. Year, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-86132-112-2 .
Web links
- Harlequin Wrasse on Fishbase.org (English)
- Choerodon fasciatus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted By: To, A., Liu, M. & Sadovy, Y., 2008. Retrieved February 8, 2014.