The waves do the hunting for it. On the reef crest, where the swell breaks and the surge runs both ways, every set tears loose crabs, urchins and snails that were holding on a moment earlier, and this wrasse works that strip back and forth all day collecting them.
Living there takes equipment. It is heavy-bodied with large stiff pectoral fins that let it hold station in water that would roll a flatter fish, and it feeds on hard-shelled animals it crushes with plates in its throat rather than picking them delicately off rock.
The turbulence also keeps most larger predators out, so a fish that can tolerate white water gets both a food conveyor and a shortage of competition.
Forty-six centimeters (18 in), green with magenta stripes across the face, and common in a habitat almost nobody looks at. If you see one it will be from below, in a meter of foam, moving faster than you are.
The genus. Thalassoma Swainson 1839 - thalassinus (sea-green) + soma (body). ETYFish
The species. Thalassoma purpureum (Forsskål 1775) - purple. ETYFish
- large green wrasse with two broad magenta stripes running back from the eye
- heavy body, blunt head, bright green-blue tail
- in white water on the reef crest, rarely deeper than 10 m
- length up to 46 cm
Why it's threatened
There are no major threats known for this species, although it is occasionally collected for the aquarium trade.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
