A wrasse with a beak, used to reach into coral branches that other fish cannot.
To about 30 cm, with the snout drawn out into a long curved beak that lengthens with age. Terminal males are dark blue-green with a paler head band and a lunate tail; females and initial-phase fish are pale in front and dark brown-black behind, with a shorter beak. The two phases are frequently logged as different species.
The beak reaches small crustaceans and worms inside branching coral, and the fish works over Acropora and Pocillopora heads at speed, swimming with its pectoral fins in a rowing motion that is recognisable well before any colour is visible. It covers ground continuously and is one of the harder common reef fish to photograph well. Recorded from about 2 to 35 m.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.