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Adult Twotone Wrasse are blue on the front half of the body, changing abruptly to yellow posteriorly. The dorsal fin is blue at the front with a large dark spot. This colouration does not vary between male and females.
Juvenile Twotone Wrasse are white with four black stripes on the body.
This species grows to 13 cm in length.
The Twotone Wrasse is usually seen on coral reefs and outer seaward reef slopes. It can be found at depths of 2 m to 40 m.
Twotone Wrasse feed on small crabs, shrimp, worms and other bottom-dwelling invertebrates.
It occurs in tropical marine waters of the Indo-West and Central Pacific, from Indonesia, north to the Philippines, south to Australia and east to the Samoan Islands.
In Australia the Twotone Wrasse is known from the northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland south to the central coast of New South Wales.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading:
- Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 220.
- Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. Coral Graphics. Pp. 222.
- Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 415.
Page researched and compiled by
K. Parkinson & M. McGrouther, September 2003.
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A Twotone Wrasse at a depth of 21 m, Ribbon Reef #3, north of Port Douglas, Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, December 2001. View larger image.
A Twotone Wrasse at a depth of 6 m, Crossroads Reef, south of Mana Island, Mamanuca Islands, Fiji, April 2004. View larger image.
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