Fish of the Month: Five-Line Wrasse Thalassoma quinquevittatum 03 2003

hawaiisfishes.com

FISH OF THE MONTH
Five-Stripe Wrasse
Thalassoma quinquevittatum (Lay & Bennett, 1839)

These guys are without a doubt one of Hawaii's most colorful reef fishes. Although not rare, people seldom see them because they are smallish, fast-moving, and tend to live on top of the reef in shallow, surge-swept areas where divers and snorkelers seldom go.

As you can see from the photos below, color varies quite a bit in these fish partly because in Hawai`i they hybridize with our endemic Saddle Wrasse.

Also, (as if they weren't already vivid enough) males undergo a dramatic color change while courting or defending their territories. For more information on this see the text below, from an expanded edition of my fish book that will be coming out in several years.

normal coloration

male courtship coloration

FIVESTRIPE WRASSE
Thalassoma quinquevittatum (Lay & Bennett, 1839)
The complex color pattern of this smallish wrasse almost defies description. The head is magenta with curved green lines, spots, and stripes and the body is green with ladderlike magenta marks. Initial and terminal phases are similar. Around daytime high tides terminal males shift into high gear, becoming bright yellow on the sides, intensifying the the colored stripes on the head, and racing about their comparatively large territories to attract mates and repel intruders such as male Saddle Wrasses. (There may not be other males of their own species to chase). This dramatic color change persists throughout courtship, which lasts for an hour or more. They may "turn on" their yellow sides at other times too. First recorded from Hawai`i in 1980, the species is uncommon but not rare in the Islands. Like most other wrasses of the genus Thalassoma, it prefers shallow reefs and is not averse to surge. It sometimes interbreeds with the Saddle Wrasse. The species name means "five stripes." To about 5 in. Indo-Pacific. Photos: Kahe Point, O`ahu. 15 ft.

Below are two more courting males with a slightly different head pattern. Perhaps they have some Saddle Wrasse blood.