WHat type of wrasse do you think this is?

[Joew]

Hey guys,
What type of wrasse is this?
_________________
Viet Nam Forum

 

[npaden]

It's a wrasses eatumupus! They eat corals and clams and will harrass other fish constantly!

Please tell us you didn't buy it!

Nathan

 

[teevee]

Some type of Cirrhilabrus sp. (fairy wrasse). I am not sure which species.

 

[dizzy]

It looks sort of like Cirrhilabrus solorensis.

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder if it might be one of the following (you should learn the joy that is fishbase.org, too)

Cirrhilabrus1

Cirrhilabrus joannallenea

And I just had to slip this in, because never in a million years did I ever think I'd find a fish called a Slippery Dick!! 8O

 

[Anonymous]

It looks sort of like Cirrhilabrus solorensis.

That's what I thought, but the red seems to extend below the mouth, and IIRC aren't the paired fins colored?

 

[dizzy]

Hi Marina,
I was looking through Fairy & Rainbow Wrasses and their relatives by Rudie Kuiter and it seemed like the closest match. He also says C. solorensis is highly variable, but it could defintely be something else.
PS
Are the Germans calling that a Slippery Dick? There is a much plainer looking wrasse from the Carribean that goes by that common name.

 

[John_Brandt]

I think it's a color variant of Cirrhilabrus rubrisquamis.

From LiveAquaria.com

From AquariumHobby Netherlands

From Joew

 

[npaden]

I think it could be a c. lubbocki actually. I've seen them at the stores that look very similar to the one Joew has a pic of. Sometimes they are called purple headed fairy wrasses at the LFS.

Nothing on fishbase really matches IMO.

FWIW, Nathan

 

[John_Brandt]

Well here is C. lubbocki, which I have to say doesn't look much like the fish in question. We may have a case of exporters and/or importers really not knowing what they have.

Male, Cirrhilabrus lubbocki, Bali by Hiroyuki Tanaka

Male, Cirrhilabrus lubbocki, Indonesia by Hiroyuki Tanaka

Joew's fish

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Marina,
I was looking through Fairy & Rainbow Wrasses and their relatives by Rudie Kuiter and it seemed like the closest match. He also says C. solorensis is highly variable, but it could defintely be something else.
PS
Are the Germans calling that a Slippery Dick? There is a much plainer looking wrasse from the Carribean that goes by that common name.

Heh.. I have NO idea, diz! I found it on fishbase (follow the Slippery Dick link, dizzy... "Open the pod bay doors, HAL." "I'm sorry. I can't do that, Dave.")

I'd come across several pics of C. solorensis, and damned if it isn't awfully close, but the things that stuck me were placement of certain coloration. Of course, all the pics I'd found appeared to be of males.

I was hoping that our ID star-in-residence would have had something concrete for us.

 

[Anonymous]

Sweet Christ on a crutch! Take a look at what fishbase has pictured as C. solorensis!

 

[Anonymous]

John, whaddya think of C. bathyphilus (my C1 in purple)?

How variable is variable with C. solorensis, you guys?

 

[John_Brandt]

I don't think that's it, seamaiden. None of the pictures I found online really looks exactly like the fish. I think C. rubrisquamis is closest, but that's just a judgement call. It may be none of the above.

I've seen lots of these like Joew's fish at a few different wholesalers. I think they are at Quality Marine too.

 

[npaden]

I realize that the few pics out there for C. Lubbocki don't look that much like Joew's fish but they seem to have a lot of variation from one pic to the next.

Looking at it again Joew's fish has a much more rounded head though.

Seamaiden - that pic is what I've always thought to be c. solorenis.

Oh well, maybe someone who knows will chime in.

Nathan

 

[fishfanatic2]

And I just had to slip this in, because never in a million years did I ever think I'd find a fish called a Slippery Dick!!

I was just saw that fishthe other day in Reef Fishes. I have a funny feeling that the guy was drunk when he named it. :lol:

 

[dizzy]

Here a pix of a few variations of C. solorensis from Fairy & Rainbow Wrasses and their relatives by Rudie Kuiter Top three pixs on right are male and the bottom two female. Males can change color from top right to top left in seconds according to Kuiter.

 

[teevee]

Seems like there are just too many colour morphs within species to get a positive ID here... luckily the fairy wrasses are all gentle little fish so other than for interest's sake, it's not too important to know the exact species.

 

[mountainbiker619]

I had a Fiary Wrasse that would kill any shrimp I put in the tank.

 

[GSchiemer]

It's definitely one of the Fairy Wrasses, most likely Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura. They are as reef-safe as a fish gets. They don't bother corals, clams and most other fish, despite what some have said here.

Greg