A long snout used like forceps to take prey from crevices. Males are blue-green, females brown at the front and pale behind.
To about 30 cm. The elongated beak-like snout identifies the genus at once in an adult. Terminal males are dark blue with a light blue edge along the pectoral fins and lime-green dorsal and anal fins. Females have a dark stripe through the eye and yellow anal and tail fins. Juveniles are pale with a dusky streak from the snout through the eye, and the snout is short and lengthens as the fish grows.
Nothing in the Indian Ocean is confusable. It is the only Gomphosus here, and its Pacific counterpart does not reach the Maldives.
It swims continuously and alone, rowing with the pectoral fins, probing crevices with the snout for small invertebrates. That constant movement is what makes it hard to photograph.
One to thirty-five metres on coral-rich lagoon and seaward reef. Collected for aquariums at a high price.
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.