Species: Hypoplectrus affinis, Blue-lip Hamlet
eye yellow
mouth and belly mauve/blue

Hypoplectrus affinis (Poey, 1861)
Blue-lip Hamlet
Head and body deep, strongly compressed; forehead straight; snout relatively short; top jaw protrusible; rear of top jaw exposed when mouth closed, without accessory bone above it; teeth fixed; preoperculum angular, serrated, several small forward pointing spines on lower edge near the corner; gill rakers 17-23; dorsal fin X, 14-17, no notch after spines, membranes between spines not indented; pelvics long, reach to or beyond anus; tail fin slightly forked; lateral line scales 48-53; soft dorsal and anal fins mostly scaleless.
Reddish-brown above, paler below; sometimes a vague dark stripe along the side of the flank; mouth, throat and belly pale mauve to bluish; a black spot on the base of the pectoral fin; dorsal, and tail fins brown, top and bottom margins of tail fin often with black stripes; pelvics and front of anal fin whitish mauve to bluey white; iris orangish.
Reaches 13 cm.
Lives on reefs.
Depth range: 3-18 m.
The Florida Keys to the Caribbean.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Reef only
- Rocks
- Corals
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Data
- Bony fishes
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- All species
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Caribbean endemic
- Continent
- Continent + Island (s)
- GC endemic
- Island (s)
- All species
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- IUCN Red List
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- Not evaluated / Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 13
- Depth Range Min
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- 3
- Depth Range Max
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- 18