Batu Coris

Coris batuensis (Batu coris or Batu rainbow-wrasse), is a species of wrasse native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean from the African coast to the Marshall Islands and from southern Japan to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and Tonga. This species is an inhabitant of coral reefs and surrounding areas at depths from 2 to 30 m (6.6 to 98.4 ft), though it is rarer deeper than 15 m (49 ft). It can reach 17 cm (6.7 in) in total length. It is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries and can also be found in the aquarium trade.

Description

Juveniles are olive-green above and white below. They have bright orange spots on the head and belly. There is a dark brown stripe from the mouth to the eye. A series of narrow white bars extend from the dorsal fin onto the top of the body and there are three black ocelli on the front, middle and rear of the dorsal fin.

Females have a grey-greenish body and irregular blackish bars on the back. There are irregular pink bars on the face, a vertical elongate black spot behind the eye and a black bar on the pectoral fin base. They also have three black ocelli on the dorsal fin.

Males are similar to the females, but have a greener body and may lose some of the ocelli in the dorsal fin.

Very pale when on white sand substrates.

Distribution

Indo-Pacific: East Africa to Marshall Islands, north to southern Japan, south to the Great Barrier Reef and Tonga.

Inhabits clear lagoon and seaward reefs to over 15 m and nearby sand-rubble bottoms at 2-30 m, solitarily or in small groups.

Feeds on small crabs and gastropods