A large eastern Pacific wrasse that changes appearance completely between juvenile, female and adult male.
To about 38 cm. Juveniles are whitish to yellowish with irregular black stripes and blotches and a fairly large ringed black spot in the middle of the dorsal fin. Initial-phase fish are light green above and whitish below with a broad diffuse blackish stripe along the middle. Terminal males are mostly blue or green with a broad blackish bar behind the head and a bright yellow spot just above the pectoral fin.
The chameleon wrasse is the other blue-marked terminal fish at these islands. The broad black bar behind the head is the separator; the chameleon has blue stripes or rows of blue spots and no bar.
Three to fifty metres, usually shallower than thirty, on sand, gravel and rubble beside rock. Adults are solitary and juveniles join mixed groups with other wrasses. It buries in the sand to sleep and when alarmed, which is worth knowing because a fish that vanishes has often not left. It eats molluscs, brittle stars, urchins and crabs, and takes parasites off other fish.
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.