Tuskfishes, Wrasses & Sweetlips

Wrasse Family

Wrasse is a carnivore (meat-eater). Its diet is based on small invertebrates (crabs, shrimps, mollusks, snails and sea urchins) and fish. Wrasse occasionally follows large marine predators and collects leftover of their meals.
Cleaner wrasse (species of wrasse) collects and eats dead tissue and parasites accumulated in the mouth of large marine fish.
Some wrasses are born as females, but they change sex and transform into males later in life. These individuals are scientifically known as protogynous hermaphrodites.
Wrasse are sexually dimorphic. Many species are capable of changing sex. Juveniles are a mix of males and females (known as Initial Phase or IP individuals) but the largest adults become territory-holding (Terminal Phase or TP) males. The triggers for this development are not known but some scientists believe that it can be prompted by the disappearance of a dominant male.
Can you eat wrasse?
Yes, wrasse is edible. However, they do not make a popular dish and therefore, their demand is low.
It is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries and can also be found in the aquarium trade.
Small wrasses dive below the sand to sleep and larger wrasses wedge themselves in crevasses.

The most common Tuskfish in Singapore
Like other Tuskfishes, the fish may have different colours and patterns at night. Juveniles may be greenish when in seagrass. It has a pair of enlarged canine teeth in front of the jaws.
The Canine teeth is used for hard-shelled prey including crustaceans, molluscs and sea urchins.
Smart Animal: The only fish in the world with recorded tool use: Along with blackspot tuskfish and a few other wrasse species, orange-dotted tuskfish have been observed taking small Clams into the mouth and smashing them against a rock, a form of tool use by animals
This tuskfish is common among shallow reefs and rocky areas, they aren't typically encountered in deep water like the Blackspot Tuskfish. They don't grow very large either, sizes over 1kg are uncommon. They aren't fussy eaters and will take from small pieces of prawn meat, worms, fish meat and and often found eating corals.
The Anchor Tuskfish is a slightly weaker fighter than the Blackspot Tuskfish and the meat quality is not as good too.
how to look for tuskfish when diving? look got a spot with lots of broken clam shells, that would be the rock that the tuskfish uses

Tuskfish are protogynous hermaphrodites; all fry start life as females and are capable of changing their sex to a male. Research suggests that they form harems and, as a rule, the largest female in a harem will develop into a male as it approaches maturity or if the need for a male arises, such as if the male in a harem falls prey to a predator.
Probably number 2 in terms of quality of meat for the Tuskfish family.
Wrasses and Tuskfish are difficult to identify. Many species could be identified by their live colouration, but they vary between juveniles and adults and with sex change. The colours also change after death. They are also often being confused as parrotfishes.

It heavily fished for for the live seafood trade. It is also highly sought after by recreational fishermen throughout its distribution.
Smart Animal: The only fish in the world with recorded tool use: Along with blackspot tuskfish and a few other wrasse species, orange-dotted tuskfish have been observed taking small Clams into the mouth and smashing them against a rock, a form of tool use by animals
This Tuskfish appear in BBC blue planet: you can see the video of the Tuskfish smashing open a clam in one episode
This tuskfish can use a rock as an anvil to smash a clam shell open.
In Hong Kong, its Cantonese name, tsing yi (Cantonese:青衣), has been given to an island (see Tsing Yi).

These fish feed on benthic invertebrates (organisms that live on the bottom of bodies of water) and other small fish.
The Juvenile Painted Sweetlips has a white body with thick black lateral lines. The underside of the body is yellow. The adult will become more solid gray with small dark spots around the outer side of the body and fins
Juveniles mimic the movement of a poisonous flatworm for defence against predators, With age they gain more spots and the spots reverse from white to black as they age.
Sweetlip is best prepared pan fried, steaming will ruin the meat.
In some areas of the world 'Grunts' are better known as 'Sweetlips' distinguished from other species by their very large rubbery lips.
'Grunts'because they "grunt," the grunting sound is produced by their flat teeth plates rubbing together and this is amplified by their air bladders.

It can change colour rapidly from pale patterns to dark. This help to confuse the predator as it blends into its environment.
Juveniles drift with the moving water mimicking floating leaves and flotsam, sometimes even tilting sideways to appear more leaf-like. .
The name describe their very large fleshy lips
This is the rarest of the sweetlip in Singapore.

A rare Sweetlip in Singapore.
Commonly mistaken for a Spanish Flag Fish.
Sweetlips colouring and patterning changes throughout their lives. For example, Plectorhinchus polytaenia develops more stripes with age. Juvenile sweetlips generally look quite different from the adults, and often live solitary lives on shallower reef sections. Juveniles may be banded or spotted and are usually a completely different colour from the adults of their species. Small juveniles have an undulating swimming pattern, possibly mimicking poisonous flatworms as a means of predator avoidance.[2][3]