No photo available
Harlequin sweetlips
Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Harlequin sweetlips
- Scientific
- Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides
- Dhivehi
- Galu guruva
- Group
- Reef fish
- Maximum size
- Up to about 72 cm (total length); commonly 60 cm; max. published weight 7 kg (FishBase); MRS 1997 gives max. 65 cm
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 1 to 30 m; also enters brackish water
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2023
Description
Adults are whitish to pale yellow covered with many small brown spots, which extend onto the fins. Juveniles are completely different: brown with large dark-edged white blotches, and they swim with an exaggerated wriggle that seems to mimic a toxic flatworm. Adults rest under ledges and table corals by day and feed at night on crustaceans, molluscs and fish.
In the Maldives
Dhivehi name galu guruva (MRS 1997). MRS notes juveniles were exported as aquarium fish.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Plectorhinchus-chaetodonoides.html
- fao.org /4/AD471E/AD471E00.htm
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Harlequin_sweetlips_(Plectorhinchus_chaetodonoides)_(408150
Dhivehi name source: M.R.S. (1997) Fishes of the Maldives (FAO/BOBP MAG/21) gives 'Galu guruva' (Latin form).