The clown coris (''Coris aygula''), also known as the clown wrasse, false clownwrasse, humphead wrasse, hump-headed wrasse, red-blotched rainbowfish or twinspot wrasse,
is a species of
wrasse
The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 81 genera, which are divided into 9 subgroups or tribes.
They are typically small, most of them le ...
native to the
Indian Ocean and the western
Pacific Ocean.
Description
This
species can reach a
total
Total may refer to:
Mathematics
* Total, the summation of a set of numbers
* Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs
* Total relation, which may also mean
** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...
length of . A marked difference in appearance is noted between juveniles and adults; juveniles are white and orange with false eyes on the dorsal fin, while adults are uniformly dark green or with light banding and developing a prominent forehead.
Habitat
''C. aygula'' is an inhabitant of
coral reefs
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...
where they prefer areas of sand or rubble at depths from . They are generally solitary as adults, while juveniles can often be found in
tide pools.
[
]
Distribution
This species can be found from the Red Sea and the African coast eastward to the Line Islands
The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands (in Gilbertese, ''Aono Raina'') are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Hawa ...
and Ducie Island and from southern Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
to Lord Howe Island.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clown Coris
Coris (fish)
Fish of the Red Sea
Fish described in 1801