Sling-jaw wrasse

Appearance

The most notable features of the sling-jaw wrasse is that the mouth of this species is armed with highly protrusible jaws which unfold into a tube which is easily half its head length. The males of this species are greyish-brown with orange on the back, a yellowish tansverse bar on the flank and a pale grey head which is marked with a thin black stripe running through the eye. The scales of the male's body are edged with darker pigment. The females can be either bright yellow or dark brown while the juveniles are brown with thin white bars on their flanks and white lines radiating out from their eyes. Intermediately patterned individuals which have yellow blotches, a pale tail and sometimes with black pectoral fins do occur. The dorsal fin has 9 - 10 spines and 9-11 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 8-9 soft rays. The largest specimens mey attain a standard length of 54 centimetres.

The similar latent sling-jaw wrasse has a more restricted distribution and is smaller, with duller coloured males, the females have black pigment on their pectoral fins and has longer pectoral fins.

Distribution

The slingjaw wrasse is found in a wide area of the Indo-Pacific region from the eastern coast of Africa, Madagascar and the Red Sea through the Indian Ocean coasts and islands into the Pacific as far east as Johnston Atoll in Hawaii, although vargrants occur in the main Hawaiian chain. It reaches north to Japan and south to New Caledonia. It is found along the northern coasts of Australia from the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago to reefs in the Coral Sea off Queensland.

Behavior

The slingjaw wrasse is a benthopelagic species which occurs in coral-rich areas of lagoon and seaward reefs, adults are normally found along reef slopes or near drop offs. They feed on small crustaceans living in the coral and on fishes. It is thought likely that this species is a protogynous hermaphrodite. The colour of the males was observed to beome more intense during courtship. Courting males swam with their caudal fin collapsed and held upwards at an angle while the anal fin was folded and stretched downwards. The intensity of the male's colour can return to normal when they feel threatened. Males hold a territory with an area of 500–1,000 square metres and a number of females appear to have their home ranges within his territory. spawning took place around high tide. When spawning the pair were observed to ascend 2–3 metres. Spawning seems to be initiated b the females and has been recorded in March, April, May, July, September and October.

Habitat

The slingjaw wrasse is a benthopelagic species which occurs in coral-rich areas of lagoon and seaward reefs, adults are normally found along reef slopes or near drop offs. They feed on small crustaceans living in the coral and on fishes. It is thought likely that this species is a protogynous hermaphrodite. The colour of the males was observed to beome more intense during courtship. Courting males swam with their caudal fin collapsed and held upwards at an angle while the anal fin was folded and stretched downwards. The intensity of the male's colour can return to normal when they feel threatened. Males hold a territory with an area of 500–1,000 square metres and a number of females appear to have their home ranges within his territory. spawning took place around high tide. When spawning the pair were observed to ascend 2–3 metres. Spawning seems to be initiated b the females and has been recorded in March, April, May, July, September and October.

Uses

The slingjaw wrasse is collected for food in many parts of its range, it is also collected for the aquarium trade. In Guam in the two decades up to 2008 the average body size of the fish caught did not decline.