WHATSTHATFISH
Bony fish

Slippery Dick

Halichoeres bivittatus

Also known as: Sand-reef Wrasse, Slippery Dick Wrasse

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2010
Adult
@Goonie · Cuba · October 20091 / 11

Showing details for the adult stage. Switch stages to see how it differs.

01

Overview

Found singly, pairs, or in schools, over shallow, rocky reefs.

Most reef fish seen by divers during the day, are grazers, they cruise around, just above the surface of the coral, or snoop into crevices, foraging for food.
Wrasses have small protruding teeth, which they use to graze the bottom, taking in a variety of algae, crustaceans, such as crabs, eggs, shrimps, snails and worms. Any hard coats or thick shells, are then ground down by their pharyngeal jaws, and the delicacies inside digested.
From juvenile to adult, wrasses dramatically alter their colour and body shapes.
Wrasses are always on the go during the day, but are the first to go to bed and the last to rise.
Small wrasses dive below the sand to sleep, and larger wrasses wedge themselves in crevices.

02

How to identify

COLOURS
Pattern
patches

Tap any trait to see other fish that share it.

03

Habitat & where to find it

Where the adult stage lives, and where its photos were taken.

  • Range · Western Atlantic, Caribbean
  • Country only · 11
LIVES IN

Found singly, pairs, or in schools, over shallow, rocky reefs.

04

Adult photos 11

05

Discussion 2

Other stages have their own discussion: 1 comment on the juvenile.

Comments are checked by a moderator before they appear.

2 comments

  • Wayne Joye· 11 Sept 2015

    I caught one several years obout 3mile of the coast of Wrightsville Bch.NC.I tried to keep it alive in my bait tank for the Marine aquarium. My friends laugh at me when I tell them I caught a Slippery Dic.

  • Michael A Wilkes· 21 Apr 2015

    I caught two of these fish on the 18th of April. They were caught in in 13 feet of water about two mile west of Anclote Island off of Pasco County Florida. I have some pictures, which I sent to FWC who identified the fish as a "slippery dick". I have been fishing these Guld waters since I was a kid and have never seen or caught one of these.

ALL STAGES
FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

Deep dive

Taxonomy

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderEupercaria incertae sedis
  5. familyLabridae
  6. genusHalichoeres
  7. speciesHalichoeres bivittatus (Bloch, 1791)

SourcesWoRMSFishBase

06

More in the family

Wrasses (Labridae)