Females and juveniles have black upper head and back, white below, dorsal and anal fins with ocelli at rear, blue-edged black spot on opercle, and blue-edged black stripe on anal fin. Large males (infrequently seen) without black back, purple/red margins on dorsal, anal and tail fins and blue and purple lines radiating from eye. Often swims in groups with other small wrasses.

• Max Size: 20 cm
• Sea Temperature Range: 19.1-29.8°C
• Depth: 4-25m
• Habitat: Coral Reef
• Habitat Generalisation Index: 27.9
  Also referred to as the SGI (Species generalisation index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here

• IUCN Threat Status: Least Concern
• Occurrence: Common (32% of sites)
  Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
• Abundance: Few (5 per transect)
  Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.