No photo available
Rockmover wrasse
Novaculichthys taeniourus
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Rockmover wrasse
- Scientific
- Novaculichthys taeniourus
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Reef fish
- Family
- Labridae (wrasses)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 30 cm (total length)
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 3 to 25 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2009
Description
A wrasse whose juveniles are green to brown with long fin filaments and drift like a piece of seaweed. Adults are dark with a white bar on the tail base and pale spots on the scales. As the name suggests, it uses its mouth to flip over stones and rubble to expose molluscs, crabs and worms.
In the Maldives
Frequently seen by snorkellers over rubble and sand in Maldivian lagoons.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Novaculichthys-taeniourus.html
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Lábrido_(Novaculichthys_taeniourus),_Yeda,_Arabia_Saudita,_
Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in MRS 1997 (available chapters), FishBase (country: Maldives) or Dhivehi Wikipedia.