Halichoeres prosopeion – Twotone Wrasse

Halichoeres prosopeion – Twotone Wrasse

Halichoeres prosopeion was first described by Bleeker in 1853. The genus name can be broken down into two ancient Greek words. Halios means ‘sea’ and choiros means ‘pig’. Freely translated Sea pig. A reference to the elongated conical teeth that point outward and forward at the corner of the mouth. These teeth protrude beyond the lips of the fish. These canines reminded Rüppel of the teeth of a bore (male pig). The species name prosopeion means ‘mask’. This is not explained in the description but probably a reference to the colored head. Their common name is Twotone Wrasse.

Description

Young Two-tone Wrasses look very different from their parents. Depending on the origin, there are small variations. All young animals have a light white base color. Four horizontal black stripes can be seen on it. These run from the tip of the nose to the tail. In the fish that originate from Australia and the eastern part of Papua New Guinea, the black stripes run to the tail. Those from the other areas stop well before the tail.

Adult Two-tone Wrasses have a grey/blueish to purple head. Towards the tail, this colour changes to yellow. At the beginning of the dorsal fin, a black spot is visible with a light blue, iridescent edge around it. They reach a maximum total length of about 15 centimetres.

Protogenic Hermaphrodite

All Halichoeres prosopeion start their life as female. If in the environment of this species the male dies, the largest female changes into a male.

Biotope

Halichoeres prosopeion can be found in the Western Pacific Ocean. From Indonesia to Samoa and Tonga. They inhabit the reefs there at a depth of 2 to 40 meters. They are usually not seen together or in groups. This species lives solitary, only during mating they come together.

Diet

The diet of the Twotone Wrasse in the wild consists of small animals such as crustaceans, molluscs, worms and echinoderms such as small starfish. These are sought and eaten on and between the substrate. Young also eat parasites from the skin of other fish. In the aquarium you can feed them with, for example, brine shrimp, mysis, krill, copepods, etc., but also flake food and granulate are eaten. Halichoeres prosopeion is Reefsafe, they even protect the coral by eating pests. However, they can prey on small shrimp, fan worms and tube worms.

The Aquarium

For a single specimen, an aquarium of about 1,000 liters is sufficient. Set it up with enough rock and/or coral between which the Halichoeres prosopeion can hide. Between the rocks and the coral it goes in search of something edible. Make sure that there is a thick layer of sand on the bottom of at least 5 to 7 centimetres thick. In case of imminent danger or to sleep, the Twotone Wrasse dives into the sand. The temperature of the water may be between 22 and 26 degrees Celsius.

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNCQJDCTUhI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fU6h1TpDQQ Auteur John de Lange Copyright foto’sFrancois Libert (Zsispeo) – CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Rickard Zerpe – CC BY 2.0ReferentiesFishbaseLiveAquaria.comWikipedia