Three species of this genus live on this coast and they are a genuine problem to tell apart. All three are small, mottled brown, shaggy along the back, and all three sit in weed instead of swimming in the open, which is the opposite of what wrasses usually do.
What separates them is fine: the position of a dark spot on the gill cover, the length of the filaments on the first dorsal spines, the pattern of bars behind the eye, and how big the fish gets. This one reaches nine and a half centimeters, carries a distinct dark opercular spot, and has a pale band running back from the eye.
That is worth knowing because they are frequently photographed and almost as frequently misfiled, including in older literature, where the whole genus was a mess until it was worked through in the 1980s.
It lives in seagrass and weedy shallow reef, holds still with its outline broken up, and darts between clumps. It also goes far deeper than most people would guess for a fish of the shallows, recorded down to nearly seventy meters.
The genus. Pteragogus Peters 1855 - ptera- (fin) + agogos (leading). ETYFish
- small mottled reddish-brown wrasse with a shaggy outline
- dark spot on the gill cover and a pale band behind the eye
- front dorsal spines drawn into short filaments
- up to 9.5 cm
