A Maldivian fairy wrasse described in 2022, magenta at the head grading to peach behind, on rubble deeper than most diving reaches.
Described in 2022. Males have the front third to half of the body bright magenta, grading to peach and orange-pink behind, and the gradient sharpens with age. Females and juveniles are similar with the gradient much less marked. Maximum size is not stated in the sources; the Chagos species it was separated from reaches about 7 cm.
That separation is the point of the entry. What the Maldives has is Cirrhilabrus finifenmaa; C. rubrisquamis, under which Maldivian fish were sold and photographed for years, was restricted in 2022 to the Chagos Archipelago, where its type came from. In the Maldives the identification is settled by geography. This page previously carried the Chagos name and the old URL redirects here.
It lives on loose coral rubble at around fifty metres, which is below most recreational diving and is why the rating is a five. Its recruitment is tied to live coral cover.
It was being collected and sold in the aquarium trade before it had a name.
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.