Clown wrasse facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Clown wrasse |
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| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Labriformes |
| Family: | Labridae |
| Genus: | Halichoeres |
| Species: |
H. maculipinna
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| Binomial name | |
| Halichoeres maculipinna (J. P. Müller & Troschel, 1848)
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| Synonyms | |
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Julis maculipinna Müller & Troschel, 1848 |
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The clown wrasse (scientific name: Halichoeres maculipinna) is a colorful fish. It lives in warm, tropical waters. You can find it in the Caribbean Sea and nearby parts of the western Atlantic Ocean. This fish is a type of wrasse. It eats other animals and is very common where it lives.
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About the Clown Wrasse
The clown wrasse is usually less than 120 millimetres (4.7 in) long. That's about the length of a small smartphone! Its body is a bit long and looks almost the same on the top and bottom.
It has a pointy nose and small teeth. These teeth are in rows in its upper and lower jaws. It also has two sets of longer, pointed teeth called canines. These are at the front and corners of its mouth.
The clown wrasse has several fins. Its pectoral fin has 14 rays, which are like flexible bones. Its dorsal fin, on its back, has 11 rays and 9 spines. The anal fin, on its belly, has 11 rays and 3 spines.
This fish is very colorful. The top part of its body is yellow. A black stripe separates the yellow top from its white belly. It also has three red lines across the top of its head. Sometimes, you might see a dark spot on its dorsal fin.
Where Clown Wrasses Live
Clown wrasses live in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. Their home stretches from North Carolina in the United States all the way to the island of Bermuda. They also live as far south as Colombia.
You can find them around Caribbean islands like Cuba and the Cayman Islands. They also live in Central American countries such as Belize. For a while, people thought they lived in Brazil. But a study in 2004 showed that the fish in Brazil were a different species called Halichoeres penrosei.
These fish prefer to live on top of coral reefs. They also like rocky areas. You can usually find them swimming between 1 to 30 metres (3 to 100 ft) below the water's surface. They have also been seen living in beds of a type of seaweed called Sargassum near Venezuela.
Clown Wrasse Behavior
What Clown Wrasses Eat
The clown wrasse is a carnivore, which means it eats meat. It mostly eats small invertebrates. Invertebrates are animals without backbones, like crabs or snails. It also eats small ray-finned fish.
Clown Wrasse Reproduction
Like many other wrasses, the clown wrasse is a sequential hermaphrodite. This means it can change its sex! It can start as a female and later become a male.
They mate using a process called lek mating. During this time, male clown wrasses become very protective of their space. They lay their eggs and sperm into the water, a process called spawning.
Clown Wrasse Conservation
Scientists have not counted exactly how many clown wrasses there are. However, this fish is found in many places and is quite common. So, it is not currently in danger.
The biggest threat to the clown wrasse is people sometimes collecting them for the aquarium trade. This means they are caught to be kept as pets in home aquariums.
 | Delilah Pierce |
 | Gordon Parks |
 | Augusta Savage |
 | Charles Ethan Porter |
