The exquisite wrasse (''Cirrhilabrus exquisitus'') is a species of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

from the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Labridae, the

wrasse The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 81 genera, which are divided into 9 subgroups or tribes. They are typically small, most of them ...

s, which is native to reefs in the

Indo-West Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region. It can be found in the aquarium trade.

Description

The exquisite wrasse has a dominant colour of greenish through to reddish and exhibits complex patterning of colours. The adult males are olive-green dorsally fading to white, pale blue or pink on their underparts and having an oval shaped dark spot on the caudal peduncle which has its bottom margin touching the lateral line. A blue line, which is frequently interrupted, runs from underneath the

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

to the spot on the tail base, and another blue line runs from the corner of the mouth to above the eye before running along the base of the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

, a second line on the head runs from the posterior edge of the eye until it breaks up above the pectoral fin, and a third line runs from the rear of the mouth to the just above the pectoral-fin base. The base of the pectoral fin is marked with a black bar, edged with blue while the margin of that fin is red. All of the fins show variable amounts of red in their middle portions. The juveniles and smaller females are reddish with a blue-margined black oval-shaped spot on the caudal peduncle and a white spot at the tip of the snout. The colouration shown by exquisite wrasse does vary geographically. A male can attain a

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

of .

Distribution

The exquisite wrasse is found from the eastern coast of Africa as far south as

Sodwana Bay Sodwana Bay is a bay in South Africa on the KwaZulu Natal north coast, between St. Lucia and Lake Sibhayi. It is in the Sodwana Bay National Park, and the Maputaland Marine Reserve, and is a popular recreational diving destination. The term is co ...

in South Africa, east through the Indian Ocean to Australia and into the Pacific Ocean as far as east as the

Tuamotus The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extendin ...

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = "Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of French ...

. It reaches north as far as the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yona ...

and south to the northern

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

Habitat and biology

The exquisite wrasse occurs where there is rubble or low patches of reefs where there is a strong current; it is also found on reef edges and around exposed outcrops of reef within areas of rubble. It can occur in reasonably large, mixed sex groups when feeding on

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

high above the seabed. The males often display to each other. It is considered that there may be some association with the mushroom ''

Heliofungia actiniformis ''Heliofungia actiniformis'' is a solitary species of mushroom coral, a large polyp stony coral in the family Fungiidae. This coral is found in shallow water in the Indo-Pacific region. It is a zooxanthellate species. It is a popular coral in the ...

''. They are

protogynous hermaphrodites Sequential hermaphroditism (called dichogamy in botany) is a type of hermaphroditism that occurs in many fish, gastropods, and plants. Sequential hermaphroditism occurs when the individual changes its sex at some point in its life. In particular, ...

the males developing a larger size, longer more pointed fins and more colourful body pattern as the transform from females to males.

Naming and taxonomy

''Cirrhilabrus exquisitus'' was formally described by the South African

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of October ...

James L.B. Smith in 1957 with the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

given as Pinda in Mozambique. This is the most widespread member of the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

Cirrhilabrus ''Cirrhilabrus'' is a genus of fish in the family Labridae native to reefs in the Indian and Pacific Ocean, commonly kept in aquaria. Species There are currently 60 recognized species in this genus: * '' Cirrhilabrus adornatus'' J. E. Randal ...

'' and may prove to represent a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

Human uses

This species is collected for the aquarium trade, but it has not yet been bred in the aquarium.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3023503 Cirrhilabrus Fish of the Indian Ocean Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish of Thailand Taxa named by J. L. B. Smith Fish described in 1957