Crimsonband Wrasse

Interesting Info

• The Crimsonband Wrasse, is a temperate reef wrasse found along the east coast of Australia, from southern Queensland through New South Wales and into eastern Victoria and Tasmania.
• Adult males are strikingly coloured, with a dark brown to black body marked by a bold crimson-red band across the midsection, giving the species its common name.
• Females and juveniles are more subdued in colour, generally reddish-brown to orange with mottled patterns, and lack the bold crimson band seen in males.
• Sexual dimorphism is strong, and as in many wrasses, they are protogynous hermaphrodites — all individuals begin life as females before some transform into dominant males.
• Juveniles often live in shallow seagrass beds and algal-covered reef edges, where their mottled appearance provides camouflage against predators.
• Adults prefer deeper rocky reefs and kelp forests, where males patrol territories and females forage in small groups.
• Their diet consists primarily of hard-shelled invertebrates such as crabs, sea urchins, snails, and bivalves, which they crush using strong jaws and teeth.
• This feeding helps regulate populations of urchins and molluscs, contributing to the health and stability of kelp ecosystems.
• Spawning occurs in spring and summer, with males performing display behaviours to attract females. Fertilised eggs are released into the water column to drift as plankton until hatching.
• They can live for more than 10 years, with larger males being the dominant breeders on reefs.
• Divers and snorkellers regularly encounter Crimsonband Wrasses on rocky reefs and kelp beds, where their bold crimson markings make males particularly easy to spot.
• Recreational anglers occasionally catch them, though they are not a primary target species compared to snapper or bream.