Mediterranean rainbow wrasse

Photo: Tim Cameron · © all rights reserved

Rainbow wrasse are one of the most immediately eye-catching fish on any Mediterranean wall — males display vivid orange body stripes and emerald markings, while initial-phase females are subtler red-brown and white. Like all members of the Labridae family they are protogynous hermaphrodites: dominant individuals transition from female to terminal-phase male. They are constantly in motion, picking parasites from other fish and gleaning invertebrates from rock surfaces — a behaviour that makes them one of the most photographed species at the site.