Creole wrasse
| Clepticus parrae | |
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| Species: | C. parrae
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| Binomial name | |
| Clepticus parrae (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
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Clepticus parrae, or the Creole wrasse, is a species of fish in the wrasse family Labridae.
Description
The creole wrasse is a small wrasse, with males reaching around 30 centimetres (one foot) in length, while females are smaller. It has a typical wrasse shape. Like many wrasse, it changes colour markedly during its lifetime, with juveniles being almost completely violet-purple. As it matures, it develops a yellow patch on the rear part of its body.[1]
Ecology
The creole wrasse is found throughout the western Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, where it is commonly seen aggregating on coral reef slopes, down to around 100 metres (330 feet) in depth. These groups feed together on plankton, including small jellyfish, pelagic tunicates and invertebrate larvae.[2] The creole wrasse is active by day, and at night it retreats alone to a rocky crevice in the reef to sleep.
Reproduction
The creole wrasse is a protogynous hermaphrodite: the largest fish in a group is a dominant breeding male, while smaller fish remain female. If the dominant male dies, the largest female changes sex. The mature males congregate at leks to breed, at which they display and are approached by females before mating with them.
- ^ http://www.thedivingblog.com/fish-identification-creole-wrasse/ The Diving Blog, retrieved 2nd July 2012
- ^ http://www.fishbase.us/summary/Clepticus-parrae.html Fishbase - Clepticus parrae
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