Species: Clepticus parrae, Creole Wrasse

Clepticus parrae (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Creole Wrasse

Body an elongate oval; snout rounded; mouth small and oblique, highly protrusible; rear of top jawbone not visible on cheek; toothed grinding plates in throat; no canine tooth at rear of top jaw, small weak canines at front of both jaws; edge of preopercle serrated; gill rakers 26-28; gill membranes fused under throat; dorsal fin XII, 10, spines not filamentous, not obviously notched between spiny and soft parts; anal fin III, 12; tail deeply concave; lateral line unbroken, smoothly arched; scales large, 32 with pores on lateral line.

Juvenile: purplish with a series of white & black blotches in a row along upper back; a black blotch at front of dorsal fin. Adult: head, body and fins violet to purple; snout black. Courting males with head, body, pectorals, pelvics and front ½ of dorsal fin blackish; rear ½ of body, anal, and tail base with an orange wash; tail fin light purple.

Reaches 30 cm.

Forms schools that feed on plankton in mid-water at the outer edges of reefs.

Depth range: 0-145 m.

Bermuda to the S Caribbean. Its brazilian sister species is C. brasiliensis.

Note: Recent analyses of the phylogeny of wrasses indicate that Clepticus is actually part of the genus Bodianus