Ornate Leopard Wrasse

Interesting Info

• The Ornate Leopard Wrasse, is a beautifully patterned wrasse found in the Indo-Pacific, including northern Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and extending west to the Maldives.
• Males are brilliantly coloured with a green to turquoise body overlaid by an intricate lattice of red-orange lines and spots, giving them an ornate, mosaic-like appearance.
• Females and juveniles are much darker, typically reddish-brown with white to pale-blue spots arranged in rows, offering camouflage against sandy rubble and coral backgrounds.
• This dramatic difference between sexes is due to their protogynous hermaphroditism: all individuals begin life as females, with some transforming into strikingly patterned males.
• Juveniles have highly contrasting white spots that fade as they mature into females, later replaced with the ornate male pattern during sex change.
• The Ornate Leopard Wrasse feeds on small benthic invertebrates such as worms, tiny crustaceans, molluscs, and foraminifera, which it picks from sand and rubble using its protrusible jaws.
• They spend the day actively foraging but bury themselves in sand at night to avoid predators — a behaviour typical of many leopard wrasses.
• Spawning usually occurs at dusk, with males patrolling small territories and performing display swims to court females. Fertilised eggs are pelagic, drifting with currents until hatching.
• The lifespan is estimated at 5–7 years in the wild, though individuals can live longer in protected aquarium conditions with proper care.
• Predators include larger reef fish such as groupers, snappers, and moray eels, though burying in sand provides effective protection at night.
• The species name ornatus means “decorated” or “ornate” in Latin, a direct reference to the intricate, decorative markings of adult males.