W - Wrasse
✩
There are around 500 species of Wrasse, found throughout the world. Most species are elongated and fairly slender, and they range from 5cm - 2m in length! The word Wrasse is said to come from the Welsh word “gwrach”, meaning an old woman or hag (despite most wrasses being very colourful!). This funny looking fish is a Bird Wrasse. - Bird Wrasse are recognisable by their elongated “bird-like” beaks, used for plucking small crustaceans from between coral branches - Juvenile/females are white and grey, with a red snout. This is another species that are protogynous hermaphrodites, and they change into males later in life, which are a blue-green colour - They tend to be found down to around 35m in the Indian Ocean