Females are dark brown covered in white spots; terminal males are green with fine orange lines on the head.
To about 22 cm. Females are very dark brown with pale yellow or white spots that carry on into the dorsal and anal fins, and a bright yellow tail. Males are deep violet with irregular blue spots and lines on the head and blue spots or dashes on the scales, and when displaying they show iridescent blue-green markings all over.
Male Anampses of other species are the difficulty, and the sources say plainly that a male of this one is easily confused with a male geographic wrasse unless it is displaying. The female’s bright yellow tail is the reliable mark.
Five to fifty metres over mixed coral, rubble, limestone and sand, picking small invertebrates. It changes sex. Burying in sand is normal in this genus, but it has not been reported for this species, so this entry does not claim it.
Collected for aquariums. Anampses do badly in tanks, which is worth saying.
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.