The inscribed wrasse (''Notolabrus inscriptus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish from the family Labridae, the

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 ...

s. It is found in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

Description

The inscribed wrasse is a large species within its genus with the largest males measured at 325 mm in

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...

; it is said to reach in standard length. The small juvenile fish are greenish with white markings and an eyespot on the soft part of the dorsal fin and another on the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

. The females are brown with white markings on their scales that create thin longitudinal stripes. The males are bluish-grey in colour with the body showing an irregular pattern which resembles scribbles and which give rise to the species

common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

and its

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

. The males also have white dorsal and anal fins.

Distribution

The inscribed wrasse is native to eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

including Lord Howe Island and

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island (, ; Norfuk: ''Norf'k Ailen'') is an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head and about from Lord Howe Island. Together with ...

, the Kermadec Islands, and the northeast coast of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

in New Zealand where its range extends from Cape Reinga to East Cape. This is an uncommon species off Australian coasts but is abundant off Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and the Kermadecs.

Habitat and biology

The inscribed wrasses can be found around kelp beds on rocky reefs at depths around . It is

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

, feeding on

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

invertebrates mostly

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s and crustaceans. Like other species in the genus ''

Notolabrus ''Notolabrus'' is a genus of wrasses native to the eastern Indian Ocean and the southwestern Pacific Ocean from Australia to New Zealand. Species The seven currently recognized species in this genus are: * '' Notolabrus celidotus'' (Bloch Bloch ...

'' the males of this species form harems within a territory defended by a male, in this species harems average six females or juveniles.

Taxonomy

The inscribed wrasse was first formally described as ''Labrus inscriptus'' in 1848 by the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

naturalist John Richardson (1787-1865) with the type locality given as Norfolk Island. This species has been recorded as hybridising with ''

Notolabrus fucicola ''Notolabrus fucicola'', the banded parrotfish, blue wrasse, kelpie, New Zealand banded wrasse, purple parrotfish, saddled wrasse, Southern purple wrasse, Southern wrasse, winter bream or yellow-saddled wrasse, is a species of wrasse native to th ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2319404 inscribed wrasse Fish of the Pacific Ocean Marine fish of Eastern Australia Fauna of New South Wales Fish of Lord Howe Island Fauna of Norfolk Island Fish of the Kermadec Islands Fish of the North Island inscribed wrasse Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist)