Bodianus diplotaenia  Labridae (Wrasses)  

DISTRIBUTION:  Range includes Isla Guadalupe and the Gulf of California to Chile including the Galápagos Islands. 

HABITAT: Common around shallow reefs but have been recorded to depths of at least 76 m. (250 ft.). 

APPEARANCE: Females are usually reddish in color and tinged with yellow with two dark stripes.  Dominant males are identified by the fleshy lumps on their heads, their coloration is grayish tinged with red and with a yellow bar near the mid section. The tips of all fins except the pectoral are long and filamentous. Adults from deep water (76m/250 feet) are bright red with the yellow mid-body bar. At .8 m (2.5 feet) and 9 kg (20 lb.)  the Mexican hogfish is the largest shallow water wrasse in the Gulf of California.   



REPRODUCTION: Starts life as a female, later becoming a functional male.  Sex change may be due to local social conditions, but it may also have a genetic component.

REMARKS: Like other wrasses, B. diplotaenia is diurnal and inactive during the night.  At night it sleeps in cracks and crevices of rocks and caves. 

Location: Galápagos Islands  8/22/11

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