Species: Halichoeres pictus, Rainbow Wrasse

Halichoeres pictus (Poey, 1860)

Rainbow Wrasse

Elongate, compressed; mouth protrusible, opens at front, thick lips; rear of top jawbone not visible on cheek; toothed grinding plates in throat; enlarged canine teeth at front of both jaws (1 pair above, 2 pairs below), a canine at rear of top jaws; gill rakers 17-18; gill membranes fused under throat; dorsal fin IX, 11, not obviously notched between spiny and soft parts; anal fin III, 11; lateral line unbroken, but abruptly bent down under rear of dorsal fin, its tubes branched, except those on tail base, 26-29 pored scales.

Juvenile: head grey to whitish, body orange-yellow; a blackish to dark brown stripe from snout, through eye along midflank fading to brown then disappearing under the dorsal fin; a white stripe (which also fades behind) directly above the dark stripe. Initial phase: yellow-orange upper half, white below; a dark brown stripe from snout, through eye to end of tail base; a white stripe above that; fins yellow. Terminal phase: upper ½ of head and front of body green to red, changing to olive to orange-brown along rear ½ of body, lower half bluey white; those two colors may be separated by a black stripe from nose to end of tail base that joins a large elongate black and blue ocellus at the end of tail base and base of the caudal fin; a blue stripe above eye and 2 below; lower head with blue stripes; dorsal fin orange to red, anal fin blue.

Reaches 13 cm.

Outer edges of reefs.

Depth range: 5-55 m.

Bermuda to the S Caribbean.