Bluehead Wrasse

This is an attractive fish with a variety of color phases. The supermale, or terminal phase (TP) male, has a scaleless bright
Coloration of the initial phase bluehead
Courtesy Environmental Protection Agency

blue head followed by two dark vertical stripes separated by a white bar. The remainder of the body is green to blue-green. Caudal fins have black lobes and the pectoral fins are edged with black. Supermales make up only 4% of the population.

Small males and females (initial phase (IP)) look similar to juveniles except the mid-lateral stripe is broken into a series of blotches ranging from dark to very faint. IP blueheads also display two other color variations. One has a yellow head and body above the white underside, with two square-like spots behind the eye and not mid-lateral stripe. The other has white bars that break up the mid-lateral stripe into a series of blotches and the back is yellowish to greenish-blue in color. IP fish are capable of changing from one color pattern to another with an intermediate coloration.

The juvenile phase has a black mid-lateral stripe. Those individuals that live among coral reefs are yellow above this stripe while inshore, non-reef associated fish are white. The area below the stripe is white in both inshore and offshore fishes.