Sandager's wrasse (''Coris sandeyeri'') is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
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 southwestern
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
ranging from
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 ...
to
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and the
Kermadec Islands. This species can be found on
reefs down to depths of about . It can reach a length of
TL. It can also be found in the
aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
trade.
Behavior
The wrasses live in small shoals consisting of one male and several 'attendant' females and juveniles. In the presence of the male, all juveniles will grow into females, but when the male dies or is removed from the shoal, the group's dominant female then undergoes physiological changes to convert herself into a male. (Greenwood. T., et al., 2012)
Sexual dimorphism
The male fish has a deeper body, and differs significantly in colouration. For example, the male has very distinctive bands, whereas the female is paler in colour and only has 2 dark spots.(Greenwood. T. et al., 2012)
Apparent Mismatch between Common Name and Scientific Name
The fish was named after
Andreas Fleming Stewart Sandager, a lighthouse keeper in New Zealand who collected the first specimen. As the scientific name has ''sandeyeri'' as the specific epithet, a proposal was made in 1927 to change it to ''"sandageri"'' on the theory that the original description constituted a misspelling. However, in 2011, it was shown that "Sandager" was also spelled "Sandeyer" at that time and thus that the original spelling of the scientific name should stand.
References
* Greenwood. T., et al., (2012), ''OCR Biology A2 2012'', Hamilton: Biozone International Ltd., pg. 155
* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, ''Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand'', (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2921264
Sandager's wrasse
Fish described in 1884