A stocky barred wrasse with a red chest, endemic to this sea and the 🌊 Gulf of Aden. It shares both the reef and the general build with the Abudjubbe Wrasse, and the two are the pair worth learning together: this one carries five dark bars and a red-orange breast, the other a purple-red throat and no bars.
It hunts hard-shelled prey across rubble - crabs, molluscs, urchins - and the heavy lips are a working part of that, used to grip and pull rather than to bite. Like its relatives it will pick up a stone in its mouth and drop it somewhere else to get at what is underneath.
Males hold territory over several females and turn on the red when another male comes into view.
Thirty-five centimeters (14 in). Its name has moved around - it was long lumped with a wide-ranging 🌊 Indian Ocean species before the 🌊 Red Sea population was recognized as its own - which is why older books here call it something else.
The species. Cheilinus quinquecinctus Rüppell 1835 - quinque (five) + cinctus (band or girdle). ETYFish
- five dark bars across the body, clearest in young fish
- males with a deep red-orange chest and throat
- thick lips and a steep forehead
- length up to 35 cm
Why it's threatened
There are no major threats known for this species.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
