Thalassoma lunare

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Family : Wrasses ; Occurs in the upper portions of lagoon and coastal reefs, and in protected seaward reefs[1]. Enters estuaries [2]. Usually found on upper portions of ledges and heads [3]. Feeds mainly on small benthic invertebrates and fish eggs [4].

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Habitat

Typically found in water with a depth of 0 to -6,005 meters (0 to -19,701 feet).[5]

Biome: Marine .

Ecology: This species is diurnally active (Pawlik et al. 1988), and inhabits coral , coastal, rocky and sheltered reefs at depths ranging from one to 30 m (Allen 2000, Westneat 2001). In Hong Kong, it was found in areas of corals , boulders and bedrock along sheltered and highly exposed shores . It was observed singly or in groups (Sadovy and Cornish 2000).

It feeds primarily upon small benthic invertebrates and fish eggs (Pawlik et al. 1988, Westneat 2001, Ackerman 2004), Randall et al. (1990) also noted that it occasionally consumes fishes . Juveniles are more abundant in coral areas where they remain close to the substrate, especially branching Acropora corals (Sadovy and Cornish 2000).

No enlarged tooth can be found at rear of upper jaw, lateral line bends down below posterior portion of dorsal fin base with 25 pored scales (Westneat 2001). Small fish differs in colour from adults and possess a truncate caudal fin, whilst adults have a distinct lunate caudal fin (Sadovy and Cornish 2000). Adults are bright green to blue with a vertical red band on each scale and most horizontal, red or purple lines on head , while small individuals are olive green on upper part of the body and blue-white ventrally (Westneat 2001).

It is reported to be a protogynous hermaphrodite (Robertson and Choat 1974, Ackerman 2004), where individuals change sex from females to males. Males were significantly larger and older than females of the same age. Male growth trajectory appears to continue increasing in size with increasing age, however, the increase in size with age for the females is markedly reduced in comparison. From age of three to five years the increase in size for mature females is relatively small. In the Great Barrier Reef , this species exhibited sex change at age of approximately three years and size of approximately 12 cm SL . Females were found to be mature at the age of one year and size of sevem cm SL, and few mature females were found to be remaining in the population beyond four years of age. The maximum longevity was 12 years (Warner et al. 1975).

Cleaning behaviour was reported for this species (Okata 1994).

A general pattern of increasing longevity with increasing latitude was demonstrated in both the Indian Ocean and Pacific basins . In addition, it was found that reef exposure appeared to play a significantly role in shaping the life history parameters . Populations inhabiting in sheltered regions exhibited slow initial growth rates compared with those populations in exposed regions. However, the impact of reef exposure on the life histories is unpredictable (Ackerman 2004).

This species is not permanently territorial , it sets up temporary territories during spawning season . Pair spawning , involving a single male and female, or aggregate spawning in which one female and a group of males have been observed (Robertson and Choat 1974). In the Great Barrier Reef, spawning aggregations were observed in July and ripe gonads were found in August. Spawning events occur throughout the year at Palm Group Islands, Great Barrier Reef (Ackerman 2004). It uses the exposed habitats as spawning sites and spawn upon a strong current tidal effect, yet resides in more sheltered conditions (Robertson and Choat 1974). It was found that this species may move up to 500 m along a contiguous reef during periods of strong tidal movement for spawning purposes (Ackerman 2004).

Duration of planktonic larval stage was found to be 55 days in One Tree Lagoon , Great Barrier Reef (Brothers et al. 1983) and 46.8 +/- 6.3 days in Palau, Western Pacific (Victor 1986). The maximum recorded size of this species is 25-28 cm TL (Randall et al. 1990).

At One Tree Lagoon, the Great Barrier Reef, overall mortality during the first year was 29% and average annual mortality 4.9% +/- 1.2 %, it did not show any significant relationship between mortality rates and population of the species (Warner et al. 1975, Eckert 1987).

Thalassoma lunare x T. quinquevittatum and Gomphosus species x T. lunare hybrids were observed in the wild (Allen 2006).[6].

List of Habitats:

•     9     Marine Neritic   
  
•     9.2     Marine Neritic - Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs   
  
•     9.3     Marine Neritic - Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel   
  
•     9.7     Marine Neritic - Macroalgal/Kelp   
  
•     9.8     Marine Neritic - Coral Reef   
  
•     9.9     Marine Neritic - Seagrass (Submerged)   
  
•     12     Marine Intertidal   
  
•     12.2     Marine Intertidal - Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars , Spits , Etc   
  
•     12.3     Marine Intertidal - Shingle and/or Pebble Shoreline and/or Beaches   
  
•     13     Marine Coastal/Supratidal   
  
•     13.1     Marine Coastal/Supratidal - Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands   
[more info]

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Chlorichthys grayii • Julim lutescentem • Julis celebicus • Julis cyanoventor • Julis gracilis • Julis hardwickii • Julis maculata • Julis meniscus • Julis mertensii • Julis porphyrocephala • Julis rapan • Julis trimaculatus • Julis truncates • Julis vent • Labrus lunaris • Labrus lunaris Linnaeus • Labrus lunaris Linnaeus, 1758 • Thalassoma lunare • Thallasoma lunare (Linnaeus

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: Data last modified by FishBase 30-May-1995

According to Parenti and Randall (2000), Julis ventralis (De Vis 1885) was determined by Paolo Parenti and Jeff Johnson of the Queensland Museum, and Thalassoma cupido bipunctatum (Vasiliu 1931) is a sub-adult of Thalassoma lunare.[6].

Similar Species

Members of the genus Thalassoma

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 36 species and subspecies in this genus:

T. amblycephalum (Blunt-Headed Wrasse) · T. amblycephalus (Blunt-Headed Wrasse) · T. ascensionis (Greenfish) · T. ballieui (Light Colored Wrasse Fish) · T. bifasciatum (Bluehead Wrasse) · T. cupido (Cupid Wrasse) · T. duperrey (Saddle-Back Wrasse) · T. duperreyi (Saddle-Back Wrasse) · T. trilobatum (Ladder Wrasse) · T. genivittatum (Red-Cheek Wrasse) · T. grammaticum (Sunset Wrasse) · T. hardwicke (Six-Barred Wrasse) · T. hardwickei (Six-Banded Wrasse) · T. hardwicki (Six-Banded Wrasse) · T. hebraicum (Crossbanded Wrasse) · T. heiseri (Pitcairn Rainbow Wrasse) · T. nigrofasciatum (Jansen's Wrasse) · T. jansenii (Jansen´s Wrasse) · T. loxum (Slant-Band Wrasse) · T. lucasanum (Cortez Rainbow Wrasse) · T. lunare (Crescent-Tail Wrasse) · T. lutescens (Green Moon Wrasse) · T. newtoni (Newton's Wrasse) · T. nigrofasciatum (Black-Barred Wrasse) · T. noronhanum (Noronha Wrasse) · T. pavo (Frecklefin Goby) · T. purpureum (Green-Blocked Wrasse) · T. quinquevittata (Five Striped Surge Wrasse) · T. quinquevittatum (Five Striped Surge Wrasse) · T. quinquevittatus (Five Striped Surge Wrasse) · T. rueppellii (Klunzinger's Wrasse) · T. sanctaehelenae (St. Helena Wrasse) · T. septemfasciata (Seven-Banded Wrasse) · T. septemfasciatum (Seven-Banded Wrasse) · T. trilobatum (Green-Blocked Wrasse) · T. virens (Emerald Sleeper)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A collection of fishes from Sumatra / by Henry W. Fowler. Philadelphia: [s.n.], 1904. url , p. 537, p. 560.
• A list of the fishes of Hawaii, with notes and descriptions of new species, by David Starr Jordan and Eric Knight Jordan. Pittsburgh, Board of trustees of the Carnegie Institute, 1922. url p. 72.
• A list of the fishes of Hawaii: with notes and descriptions of new species / by David Starr Jordan and Eric Knight Jordan. Pittsburgh: Published by the authority of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Institute, 1922. url p. 72.
• An annotated checklist of the fishes of the Chagos Archipelago, Central Indian Ocean / Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 1989. url p. 194, p. 56.
• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url , , p. 1572, p. 184, p. 188, p. 321, p. 322.
• Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). London: BM(NH) url p. 226, p. 239.
• Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries. Washington, D.C.: Govt. Print. Off., 1905-1950. url p. 214, p. 215, p. 30, p. 30, p. 305, p. 307.
• Check-list of species of fishes known from the PhilippineArchipelago, by David Starr Jordan and Robert Earl Richardson. Manila: Bureau of Printing, 1910. url p. 38.
• Check-list of the species of fishes known from the Philippine Archipelago, Manila, Bureau of printing, 1910. url p. 38.
• Dean bibliography of fishes. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1971-1973. url p. 226, p. 37.
• Fishery bulletin / U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service. Washington, D.C.: The Service: url p. 586, p. 598.
• Fishes of the Crane Pacific expedition, by Albert W. Herre. 21 1936 Chicago, 1936. url p. 21, p. 321, p. 322.
• Fishes of the islands of Luzon and Panay / by David Starr Jordan and Alvin Seale. Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 1907? url p. 30.
• Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco: The Academy, 1868- url p. 33.
• Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge [Mass.]: The Museum, 1876-1940. url p. 302.
• Occasional papers of Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Honolulu, Bishop Museum Press, 1898-1984. url p. 131, p. 131, p. 57, p. 57, p. 57.
• Pamphlets on forestry. Fish and game. [1900?- url p. 1572.
• Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia url p. 305, p. 305.
• Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Washington, Biological Society of Washington url p. 1169.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 369.
• Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Sydney, Linnean Society of New South Wales. url p. 51.
• Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Mosman, New South Wales [etc.]The Society. url p. 38.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] url p. 524.
• Records of the Australian Museum. Sydney: Printed by order of the Trustees, 1890- url p. 187.
• Report on a collection of marine fishes from North Borneo. 36 1957 [Chicago]Chicago Natural History Museum, 1957. url p. 391.
• The Australian zoologist. Sydney, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales url p. 129, p. 225.
• The Journal of the Linnean Society of London. London: Academic Press [etc.], 1865-1968. url p. 485.
• The Natural history of Enewetak Atoll / edited by Dennis M. Devaney. .. [et al.]; prepared by Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Energy. Oak Ridge, Tenn.: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Energy Research, Office of Health and Environmental Research, Ecological Research Division, c1987. url p. 305.
• The Philippine journal of science. Manila: Bureau of Science url p. 552, p. 69.
• The fishes of North and Middle America: a descriptive catalogue of the species of fish-like vertebrates found in the waters of North America, north of the Isthmus of Panama / by David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum, 1896-1900. url p. 1572.
• The fishes of Samoa. Description of the species found in the Archipelago, with a provisional check-list of the fishes of Oceania. [By David Starr Jordan and Alvin Seale]. .. 1906 Washington, Government print off., 1906. url p. 305, p. 307.
• The shore fishes / by William C. Kendall and Edmund L. Goldsborough. 26 1911 Cambridge, U.S.A.: Printed for the Museum, 1911. url p. 302.
• Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia (Incorporated). Adelaide: W.C. Rigby, 1912-1937. url p. 454.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed February 4, 2012.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Shea, S., Liu, M., Sadovy, Y. & Rocha, L.A. 2010. Thalassoma lunare. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 05February2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal December 10, 2007:

• Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Bishop Museum Natural History Specimen Data
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, AIMS - Baited Remote Underwater Video Station
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, Bishop Museum Data
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity - Fish Collection
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, iziko South African Museum - Fish Collection
• Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Vertebrate specimens
• Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Ichtyologie
• National Chemical Laboratory, IndOBIS, Indian Ocean Node of OBIS
• OZCAM
• Provider, Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums
• Royal Ontario Museum, Fish specimens
• University of Kansas Biodiversity Research Center, Fish Collection

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 139833
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Fis-25735
• Fishbase Species ID: 5645
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13287971
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 170572
• IUCN ID: 245917
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 126462

Footnotes

1. Myers, R.F. (1991). Micronesian reef fishes. Second Ed. Coral Graphics, Barrigada, Guam. 298 p. [back]
2. Kuiter, R. H. and Tonozuka (2001). Pictorial guide to Indonesian reef fishes. Part 2. Fusiliers - Dragonets, Caesionidar - Callionymidae. Zoonetics, Australia. 304-622 p. [back]
3. Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994). Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p. [back]
4. Westneat, M.W. (2001). Labridae. Wrasses, hogfishes, razorfishes, corises, tuskfishes. p. 3381-3467. In K.E. Carpenter and V. Niem (eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific ... [back]
5. Mean = -789.330 meters (-2,589.665 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,156.020 based on 449 observations. Ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
6. Shea, S., Liu, M., Sadovy, Y. & Rocha, L.A. 2010. Thalassoma lunare. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 05 February 2012. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.