Find a Fish
Green Moon Wrasse
Thalassoma lutescens (Lay & Bennett, 1839)
A Green Moon Wrasse at a depth of 18m, Fish Rock, South West Rocks, New South Wales, September 1998. View larger image.
A Green Moon Wrasse at a depth of 15m, South Solitary Island, New South Wales, April 2000. View larger image.
The Green Moon Wrasse changes colour with growth. Juveniles are brown to green-yellow and have pale orange lines on the head.
Males are green-yellow. The pectoral fin is yellow and blue with a black margin. There are salmon-coloured lines on the head. The side of the body behind the pectoral fin is blue.
The caudal fin of juveniles is rounded but becomes lunate (glossary) in mature males.
This species grows to 25cm in length.
It feeds on a variety of invertebrates.
The Green Moon Wrasse is know from tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific.
In Australia it is recorded from south-western to north-western Western Australia and the northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland to the central coast of New South Wales.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 292.
- Allen, G.R. & R. Swainston. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 201.
- Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Swainston Publishing. Pp. 180.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Gary Allen. Pp. 437.
- Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.
