A pale wrasse with a dark zigzag down its side, working sand flats and seagrass at a steady trot. Twenty centimeters (8 in), and one of the fish that turns a boring patch of bottom into something worth watching.
It hunts by taking mouthfuls of sand, sorting out small crustaceans and worms inside the mouth, and blowing the clean grains back out - the same technique as the checkerboard wrasse it shares the flats with. The two are easy to separate: checkerboard has a bold black grid, this one a single wavy line.
It is also a professional follower. Rays, goatfish and larger wrasses that dig get a zigzag in attendance within seconds, taking whatever is uncovered and missed, and it will follow a diver's fin wash for the same reason.
At dusk it dives into the sand and sleeps buried, which is also how it escapes - the fish is simply gone, and there is nothing above the bottom to chase.
The genus. Halichoeres Rüppell 1835 - halios (sea) + choiros (hog). ETYFish
The species. Halichoeres scapularis (Bennett 1832) - of the shoulder. ETYFish
- pale body with a dark zigzag line running along the flank
- green head with pink lines, yellow spot behind the gill cover
- works open sand rather than coral
- length up to 20 cm
Why it's threatened
There are no major threats known for this species.
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
