Birdnose Wrasse

Interesting Info

• The Birdnose Wrasse lives across the Indo-Pacific. In Australia, you can spot it from Western Australia near Rottnest Island, all the way up to the Great Barrier Reef, and even as far south as the Solitary Islands and Lord Howe Island.
• Its body is squished side-to-side with a very long, pointy snout that looks just like a bird’s beak—hence the name “Birdnose.”
• Males usually wear green or bluish-green colours with a bright yellow band behind the head, and their head might look a bit bluer.
• Females are made for hiding—they have a pearly white front, grayish sides with dark edges, a red-orange snout, and a dark line across their eye.
• Young wrasses start off looking simpler—mostly brown or green with two dark side stripes, and they don’t have the long beak yet.
• These fish love coral-rich lagoons and sea slopes and swim on their own or sometimes in small groups down to around 30 m deep.
• They hunt tiny reef creatures like crabs, shrimps, brittle stars, molluscs, and even small fish using that long “beak” to probe into coral crevices.
• They often hang out at “cleaning stations,” letting cleaner fish pick parasites off them in a fun symbiosis.
• Birdnose Wrasses start life as females and some grow into males later, usually keeping only one male in a group—if he disappears, a female becomes a male in his place.
• When it’s time to breed, pairs rise up in the water and release eggs that drift away to hatch later.
• Birdnose Wrasses usually live around 7–10 years on the reef, which is fairly long for a medium-sized wrasse.