Wrasses

Cuvier's day the nest-building habits of the 'wrasses' became known to naturalists, as they had doubtless been known ages before to the fishermen -- and to Aristotle. ❋ Various (N/A)

I lack the patience to carefully examine a fan coral for pygmy seahorses no bigger than my little fingernail, but there's enough of the big and dramatic to keep me astonished: the orb-like shimmering jellyfish, the wrasses, turtles and mantas, the epaulette sharks that "walk" on their fins, the unworldly-appearing frogfish or the schools of silver barracuda. ❋ Unknown (2009)

As always, James is a master of lush detail, especially when describing his native Australia — there, wrasses mix with banyans and reefs to produce a sense of exquisite sensory nostalgia. ❋ Unknown (2008)

The marine park offers the best diving sites in the world today and is also where endemic marine species and highly endangered and expensive napoleon wrasses can be found. ❋ Nomadicasian (2008)

Or the sharks getting their teeth cleaned by the little cleaner wrasses on Jacques Cousteau specials -- both parties benefit. ❋ Unknown (2006)

Other important components of the fringing reef ecosystem include algae (brown, red and green), marine invertebrates (shrimp, lobster, crabs and sea urchins) and fishes (parrotfish, wrasses, damselfish, surgeonfish, goatfish, jacks and sharks). ❋ Unknown (2008)

Certain species, such as blue-headed wrasses, are transgender. ❋ Unknown (2005)

He was going along the rocks in three-fathom water, watching the pollock catch prawns, and the wrasses nibble barnacles off the rocks, shells and all, when he saw a round cage of green withes; and inside it, looking very much ashamed of himself, sat his friend the lobster, twiddling his horns, instead of thumbs. ❋ Unknown (2007)

In fact, the very elegance and surprising results of the initial studies on the reproductive strategies in wrasses were instrumental in influencing my choice to study behavioral ecology and evolutionary ethology as a grad student. ❋ Unknown (2006)

For example in some labrids wrasses - kind of a cigar-shaped fish with a lot of species, you can find in one population at least 3 different mating strategies: ❋ Unknown (2005)

The wrasses called the owzel and the thrush, and the smaris have different colours at different seasons, as is the case with the plumage of certain birds; that is to say, they become black in the spring and after the spring get white again. ❋ Unknown (2002)

Gender: Most wrasses are born as females, while many change sex to male as they reach adulthood. ❋ Chronicle [email protected] (David Perlman (2011)

University in Australia have used modern genome analysis to trace the history of wrasses since the time when two ancestral lineages diversified nearly 63 million years ago. ❋ Chronicle [email protected] (David Perlman (2011)

These reefs, which are habitats for cleaner wrasses - as the industrious little fish are known - are probably vital for the sharks' health. ❋ Unknown (2011)

All wrasses "are very keen on finding prey, very curious and highly competitive," Bernardi said Wednesday. ❋ Chronicle [email protected] (David Perlman (2011)

In fact, the most common local hunters, like wrasses, rock cod and coral trout have eyes that block out UV light for the sake of better contrast and less retinal damage. ❋ Unknown (2010)