Sixbar wrasse facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sixbar wrasse |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Synonyms | |
|
The sixbar wrasse (Thalassoma hardwicke) is a colorful fish. It is also known as the six-banded wrasse. This fish belongs to the wrasse family and lives in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.
You can find the sixbar wrasse on reefs. It usually swims in shallow water, from the surface down to about 15 meters (50 feet) deep. This fish can grow up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) long, but most are about 15 centimeters (6 inches). People sometimes catch them for food or to keep in aquariums.
Contents
What the Sixbar Wrasse Looks Like
The sixbar wrasse can grow to be about 20 centimeters (8 inches) long. It is a greenish fish with a special pattern. It has four dark bars on its upper body. It also has two more dark, saddle-like bars near its tail.
Older fish have pretty pink streaks. These lines spread out from near their eyes. The fish has a dorsal fin with 8 spines and 12 to 14 soft rays. Its anal fin has 3 spines and 11 soft rays.
Where the Sixbar Wrasse Lives
The sixbar wrasse lives in warm, tropical waters. Its home is the Indo-Pacific region. This area stretches from East Africa and Madagascar all the way to Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. You can also find it near northern Australia and many islands in the Western Pacific.
This fish prefers coral reefs. It also lives on reef slopes and in calm lagoons. It can be found at depths of 15 meters (50 feet) or even deeper.
Daily Life and Food
The sixbar wrasse is active during the day. It has a large home area, bigger than 1,000 square meters (10,764 square feet). These fish often swim in small groups.
They eat tiny creatures like plankton and small crustaceans. They also munch on foraminiferans, small fish, fish eggs, and fish larvae.
Interesting Behavior
One sixbar wrasse in an aquarium showed a very smart behavior. It was given food pellets that were too hard to chew. They were also too big to swallow whole.
The fish carried each pellet to a specific rock. It then used the rock like an anvil to break the pellet into smaller pieces. It did this many times with the same rock. This showed that the fish could remember how to solve its food problem!
Keeping Sixbar Wrasse in Aquariums
Sometimes, people keep the sixbar wrasse in home aquariums. If you want to keep one, it needs a big tank. The tank should have a sandy bottom. It also needs many rocks. These rocks provide caves and hiding spots.
The wrasse might move things around in the aquarium. It does this to find hidden worms, snails, and other small creatures. It will also eat shrimps, crabs, and small fish. If the prey is too big, it might bash it on a rock to break it apart. This fish can jump out of the tank. It also buries itself in the sand when it gets scared.
Conservation Status
The sixbar wrasse is a very common fish. It lives across a wide area. Even though some are caught for aquariums, this does not seem to harm the species much. There are no other big threats known. Because of this, the International Union for Conservation of Nature says it is a "least concern" species. This means it is not in danger of disappearing.
About Its Name
The sixbar wrasse was first officially described in 1830. An English person named John Whitchurch Bennett gave it the scientific name Sparus hardwicke. He found it on the south coast of Ceylon (which is now Sri Lanka). The name hardwicke honors Bennett's friend, Major-General Thomas Hardwicke. He was also a naturalist, someone who studies nature.
