Sealife guideThe ornate wrasseThalassoma pavo
Taxonomy
- Common name: Ornate wrasse, Turkish wrasse
- French name: Girelle paon
- Scientific name: Thalassoma pavo (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Family name: Labridae
- Order name: Perciformes
- Class name: Actinopterygii
Description
The ornate wrasse measures around 6 inches with a maximum length of 10 inches. The ornate wrasse is a fish with an elongated body.
The ornate wrasse is a brightly colored fish whose livery varies according to its sex:
- The color of the dorsal part of the female's body varies from brownish to orange, interspersed with 5 to 6 bright blue vertical stripes
- The male's body color is entirely greenish with a bright blue border
Range
The ornate wrasse is found along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Habitat
The ornate wrasse is a mostly solitary fish that sometimes lives in small groups. It lives near rocky bottoms and Posidonia seagrass beds.
The ornate wrasse is primarily found from the surface down to about 164 feet deep.
Diet
The ornate wrasse feeds mainly on small invertebrates such as crustaceans, mollusks and worms, which it finds on the surface of rock faces.
Reproduction
The ornate wrasse is a hermaphroditic fish, sometimes born female, sometimes male.
Did you know ?
The ornate wrasse is listed as many other marine species within The
IUCN Red List of threatened species. The ornate wrasse appears in the
IUCN Red List since 2010 within the category Least Concern !
Tips for observing
The male ornate wrasse is a sedentary fish and you'll have no trouble finding it in its territory once discovered and observed.
Within the same genus
Jansen's wrasse
(Thalassoma jansenii)
Surge wrasse
(Thalassoma purpureum)
Saddle wrasse
(Thalassoma duperrey)
Sixbar wrasse
(Thalassoma hardwicke)
Klunzinger's wrasse
(Thalassoma rueppellii)
Sunset wrasse
(Thalassoma lutescens)
Moon wrasse
(Thalassoma lunare)
Within the same family
Mediterranean rainbow wrasse
(Coris julis)
Knife razorfish
(Cymolutes praetextatus)
Tarry hogfish
(Bodianus bilunulatus)
Yellowhead wrasse
(Halichoeres garnoti)
Fourline wrasse
(Larabicus quadrilineatus)
California sheephead
(Semicossyphus pulcher)
Hogfish
(Lachnolaimus maximus)
Zigzag wrasse
(Halichoeres scapularis)
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Redmargin shrimpgoby
(Amblyeleotris rubrimarginata)
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Red scorpionfish
(Scorpaena scrofa)
Zebra seabream
(Diplodus cervinus)
Sharptail eel
(Myrichthys breviceps)
Bigeye tuna
(Thunnus obesus)
The marine species from Mediterranean sea
Black sea urchin
(Arbacia lixula)
Blue spiny starfish
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Common two-banded seabream
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Forkweed
(Dictyota dichotoma)
Fried egg jellyfish
(Cotylorhiza tuberculata)
Orange-red encrusting sponge
(Crambe crambe)
Smooth starfish
(Hacelia attenuata)
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