Napoleon Wrasse

Photo: Ahmed Fouad · CC BY-NC

Large Napoleon wrasse patrol the deeper sections of the reef at 20-30 metres, their humped foreheads and thick lips making them one of the most recognisable large reef fish in the world. As sequential hermaphrodites that start life female before becoming male, large individuals represent decades of reef tenure and carry the genetic legacy of surviving multiple threats. Their powerful jaws can crush coral rubble to extract buried molluscs and crustaceans, making them important bioturbators on the reef.