A wrasse known only from the Revillagigedo Archipelago, on rock and rubble in shallow water.
To about 8 cm. The initial phase is greenish brown on the back and whitish over the lower two-thirds of the side, with zigzag striping, a thin dark line along the base of the dorsal fin and a yellowish snout. The terminal male has a yellow stripe running below the eye and back along the middle of the flank to the tail base, a bright blue stripe from the eye, a reddish belly and pinkish median fins. Juveniles look like the initial phase. The Revillagigedo tailspot wrasse is the one to rule out, and it carries a black spot with a yellow upper edge in the middle of the dorsal fin, which this fish does not.
Shallow rock and coarse sand, five to twenty metres. It is reported as fairly common and it forms loose aggregations hovering about a metre off the bottom, which is how it is usually seen. Recorded only from the Revillagigedo Islands; STRI notes that reports from Guadalupe probably refer to a different, undescribed fish. Described in 1992 and separated from its mainland relative the chameleon wrasse by 7.6 per cent of the standard barcoding gene, which is a wide gap. Listed as Vulnerable.
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.