Pastel-green Wrasse

Interesting Info

• The Pastel-green Wrasse lives across the central western Pacific, from the Philippines and Indonesia to the Northern Territory and Great Barrier Reef.
• Males are bright green with bluish lines on the face and body, and they often show a reddish bar behind the gill cover.
• Females and juveniles are more subdued, with pale green to brown bodies, faint stripes, and a distinctive dark spot on the upper base of the tail fin.
• Juveniles sometimes have two or three eye-like spots on the dorsal fin, which trick predators into striking the wrong end of the fish.
• They live on coral reefs, rubble patches, lagoons, and seagrass beds, usually from the shallows down to about 20 m (65 ft).
• Pastel-green Wrasses feed on tiny invertebrates like worms, snails, shrimps, and small crabs, which they peck from sand and coral.
• Like many wrasses, they begin life as females and some change into males later, which explains the big difference in colour between the sexes.
• They are diurnal, active during the day and hiding in reef crevices or burying in sand at night for protection.
• Spawning occurs in pairs or small groups at dusk, with eggs released into the water column to drift away as plankton.
• This wrasse usually lives about 5–7 years on reefs, which is typical for smaller species in the genus Halichoeres.
• The scientific name chloropterus means “green-winged,” a reference to its pastel-green fins and body.