Moon wrasse: Difference between revisions
GrahamBould (talk | contribs) First edition |
GrahamBould (talk | contribs) mNo edit summary |
||
| Line 21: | Line 21: | ||
==References== |
==References== |
||
* {{FishBase_species| genus = Thalassoma | species = lunare | month = May | year = 2006}} |
* {{FishBase_species| genus = Thalassoma | species = lunare | month = May | year = 2006}} |
||
{{fish-stub}} |
|||
[[Category:Labridae]] |
[[Category:Labridae]] |
||
Revision as of 12:55, 16 November 2006
| Moon wrasse | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: | |
| Species: | T. lunare
|
| Binomial name | |
| Thalassoma lunare (Linnaeus, 1758)
| |
The moon wrasse, Thalassoma lunare, is a wrass of the Labridae family found in the Indo-Pacific oceans at depths of between 1 and 20 m. Its length is up to 25 cm.
Adult moon wrasse have a large yellow crescent posteriorly in the caudal fin and blue pectoral fins with a large elongate pink area distally. Large males turn blue on the head that grades to green towards the tail. The body is dark green to blue with vertical red to purplish-red lines. The head is green to blue with irregular pink to violet bands. Juveniles have a large dark spot in the middle of the dorsal fin and a large diffuse black spot at the base of the caudal fin.
They occur in the upper portions of lagoons and coastal reefs, and in protected seaward reefs, and they also enter estuaries. They feed mainly on small benthic invertebrates and fish eggs. They are protogynous hermaphrodites.
References
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2006). "Thalassoma lunare" in FishBase. May 2006 version.