initial phase
terminal male
Epibulus insidiator (Pallas 1770)
This unusual wrasse has a specialized mouth that "unfolds" into a tube half the length of its own body. It uses this "tube" to nab shrimps, crabs and fishes from between branches of coral. The Slingjaw Wrasse is particularly associated with corals of the genus Acropora, which in Hawai`i occur only around French Frigate Shoals in the northwestern chain and at Johnston Island. In the main Hawaiian Islands, where no Acropora corals grow, Slingjaw Wrasses are extremely rare. Slender and deeper-bodied than other Hawaiian wrasses, they are brown or yellow in the initial phase, with dark edges on each scale. Terminal phase males are brown with a light gray head. A nebulous yellow bar extends down the center of the body and dark lines radiate from the eye. These males tend to swim with their long backward-pointing anal fin prominently displayed. In recent years, several Slingjaw Wrasses have appeared at Hanauma Bay, O`ahu, and also around Lana`i. At Hanauma at least one terminal phase male and one initial phase fish appear to be resident. Full grown adults attain about 12 in. Indo-Pacific. Photos: terminal male (lower photo): Marshall Islands. initial phase (upper photo): Hanauma Bay, O`ahu. 15 ft.