Wrasses are the fish that never stop. They row along on their pectoral fins all day, cover ground constantly, and a wrasse holding still is usually a wrasse that is about to be somewhere else.
This one hides. It is small, mottled brown, shaggy along the back where the front dorsal spines are drawn into filaments, and it spends its time sitting in weed and algae with its outline broken up, moving in short darts between one clump and the next. Put it next to a bird wrasse and you would not guess they were in the same family.
That is a rare choice in this group and it has costs: a fish that does not cruise cannot cover much ground, so it has to make a living from whatever is in its own small patch of weed.
It is also why the species is barely photographed. It does not come out, it is eight centimeters, and it looks like a piece of algae with eyes. The best way to find one is to watch a weedy patch of rubble and wait for a bit of it to move sideways.
The genus. Pteragogus Peters 1855 - ptera- (fin) + agogos (leading). ETYFish
- small mottled brown wrasse with a shaggy, broken outline
- front dorsal spines drawn out into short filaments
- sits still in weed instead of cruising in the open
- up to 8 cm
