Ryan Photographic - Labridae - Wrasses and parrotfishes

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Family Labridae

The family Labridae is enormously successful witth around 600 species distributed in 69 genera. The Wikipedia entry on the Labridae is even more expansive with "over 600 species in 82 genera". Either way it is the second most speciose family on the planet, second only to the gobies (Gobiidae). Recently the parrotfishes, now subfamily Scarinae, were moved from their own family Scaridae into the Labridae. As I have always had toruble telling them apart on occasion this makes firm sense.

When you dive you are always aware of wrasses. They are self-important "busy" fish with apparently insatiable curiosity. They are relatively fearless and most will allow close approach. They typically swim by sculling with their pectoral fins but will use their caudal fin when swift movement is necessary. They are all carnivorous but have very varied feeding mechanisms. These range from "fish cleaning" in the Labroides wrasse to fish eating in others.

They vary in size from a few cms all the way up to the humphead (Napoleon) wrasse which used to grow to 2.5m. Fish of this size have all been fished out. Sadly, humphead wrasse are a "status" fish in parts of South East Asia where the lips may be all that is eaten.

Labrids show considerable color diversity; juveniles are usually a different color from females and adult males (which are different from each other). Juveniles initially mature into females and are able to change their sex to male - these are usually much more brightly colored than females or juveniles.

The subfamily Scaridae contains the well-known parrotfish - so named for their beak-like mouth. At the time I wrote this Fishbase recognized 83 species in 9 genera.

They are important coral reef species feeding on algae, coralline algae and in some species, coral polyps. They eat substantial amounts of coral rock and coralline algae which helps them break down the other algae they eat. Wikipedia states that a parrotfish can produce 90 kgs of coral sand a year - so next time you lounge on that beautiful tropical beach remember where it comes from ...

Like the wrasses, parrotfishes exhibit a wide variety of color patterns both within and between species. Juvenile parrotfish are usually differently colored from adults. Sex change is common. Many start off as females and then change to males as they get bigger. Males and females are usually differently colored.

A few species secrete a mucus cocoon around themselves at night, eating it in the morning, thereby recyclng nutrients. The cocoon is supposed to mask their scent from olfactory predators such as moray eels. In addition, the very act of touching the cocoon gives the parrotfish a warning that something is amiss.

The largest of the parrotfish is the bumphead parrotfish which supposedly reaches 1.3m. Having been lucky enough to see a herd of these magnificent fish in the Raja Ampat Islands I have to question this upper size limit - however, the excitement of seeing 20-30 of these massive fish going about their business feeding is enough to suspend all critical faculties so perhaps they just loomed larger in my memories.