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Chiseltooth wrasse
Pseudodax moluccanus
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Chiseltooth wrasse
- Scientific
- Pseudodax moluccanus
- Dhivehi
- Hikaa
- 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 60 m (usually 4 to 40 m)
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2009
Description
A wrasse with chisel-like front teeth, a brownish body with dark-edged scales and a blue-edged lip, reaching about 30 cm. It lives near caves on clear channels and seaward reefs; juveniles clean other fish.
In the Maldives
FishBase (Maldives) gives only the general name hikaa.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Pseudodax-moluccanus.html
- fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=5594&GenusName=Pseudodax&SpeciesName=
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Lábrido_(Pseudodax_moluccanus),_mar_Rojo,_Egipto,_2023-04-1
Dhivehi name source: FishBase common names (country: Maldives) give 'Hikaa' (Latin script). FLAG: single source. FLAG: generic name for the group, not species-specific.