---
title: Peacock Razorfish (Iniistius pavo)
scientific_name: Iniistius pavo
common_name: Peacock Razorfish
taxon: Wrasse
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-10-28T19:33:29.518Z
updated: 2026-08-14T09:49:58.792Z
tags: Peacock Razorfish, Iniistius pavo, Wrasse, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/wrasse/peacock-razorfish
---

# Peacock Razorfish (*Iniistius pavo*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Wrasse (*Labridae*)
- **Size:** up to 42 cm
- **Depth:** 1-100 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Open sand and rubble flats away from coral
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Protogynous hermaphrodite
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- body flattened side to side like a blade, with a very steep blunt forehead
- pale gray or greenish with faint bars
- juveniles with a long trailing first dorsal ray, drifting like a leaf
- dives head-first into sand when approached
- length up to 42 cm

A fish shaped like an axe head, living on open sand where there is nothing to hide behind - and hiding anyway.

The body is compressed to a blade and the forehead is nearly vertical, which is a shape built for one purpose: at any sign of trouble the razorfish dives head-first into the sand and swims through it, sometimes for a meter or more, and surfaces somewhere else or simply does not surface at all. It sleeps buried too. The steep face is the leading edge.

Juveniles solve the same problem differently. They carry a long trailing filament off the first dorsal ray and drift over the bottom on their sides, rocking with the surge, doing an excellent impression of a dead leaf.

Adults hunt small crustaceans and molluscs, picking through sand grain by grain, and hold loose territories with one male over several females. Forty-two centimeters (17 in) at their largest. On a sand flat that looks empty, look for a shape that is too thin to be a fish - and be ready for it to vanish downwards.

## Also known as

- **English:** peacock razorfish, Black-barred Razorfish, Indianfish blue razorfish
- **Hebrew:** להבי טווסי
- **French:** Labre-rasoir paon, Rason commun, Rason paon
- **German:** Blauer Schermesserfisch
- **Spanish:** cuchillo pavo real, Vieja pavo
- **Portuguese:** Bodião-nabeta
- **Dutch:** Blauwe Scheermeslipvis
- **Japanese:** ホシテンス, Hoshi-tensu, Hoshitensu
- **Chinese:** 孔雀楔鯛, 孔雀離鰭鯛, 孔雀頸鰭魚
- **MAL:** Balala, ബലാല
- **SW:** Pono
- **TAH:** po'ou
- **TGL:** Isdang bato, Bankilan, Bungat

## Scientific synonyms

- *Hemipteronotus niger* (Steindachner, 1900)
- *Hemipteronotus pavo* (Valenciennes, 1840)
- *Hemipteronotus pavoninus* (Valenciennes, 1840)
- *Iniistius cacatua* Waite, 1901
- *Iniistius leucozonus* Jenkins, 1901
- *Iniistius mundicorpus* Gill, 1862
- *Iniistius pavoninus* (Valenciennes, 1840)
- *Inistius pavo* (Valenciennes, 1840)
- *Novacula carneoflava* Peters, 1877
- *Novacula immaculata* Valenciennes, 1840
- *Novacula nigra* Steindachner, 1900
- *Novacula temporalis* Regan, 1905
- *Novacula tessellata* Valenciennes, 1840
- *Novacula tetrazona* Bleeker, 1858
- *Xirichthys pavo* Valenciennes, 1840
- *Xyrichthys panamensis* Fowler, 1944
- *Xyrichthys pavo* Valenciennes, 1840
- *Xyrichthys pavoninus* Valenciennes, 1840
- *Xyrichthys puniceus* Richardson, 1846
- *Xyrichtys niger* (Steindachner, 1900)
- *Xyrichtys pavo* Valenciennes, 1840
- *Xyrichtys tetrazona* (Bleeker, 1858)

## Range

Mozambique, Seychelles

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/wrasse/peacock-razorfish)*
*Updated: August 14, 2026*