Axilspot hogfish

About this species

Bodianus axillaris, the axilspot hogfish, coral pigfish or turncoat hogfish, is a species of wrasse native to the Indo-Pacific.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Bodianus axillaris”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 79 records
February: 190 records
March: 290 records
April: 456 records
May: 213 records
June: 227 records
July: 208 records
August: 181 records
September: 140 records
October: 153 records
November: 86 records
December: 76 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 6–24 m · Deepest record: 479 m

0–10 m: 508 records
10–20 m: 606 records
20–30 m: 382 records
30–40 m: 5 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 6 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–29 °C

22–24 °C: 5 records
24–26 °C: 25 records
26–28 °C: 216 records
28–30 °C: 388 records

Photos

(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Ashwin Srinivasan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rui Ribeiro, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) agujaceratops, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Axilspot hogfish, Axil Hogfish, Axil Pigfish, axilspot hogfish, Bicolor Wrasse, Coral Hogfish, Coral Pigfish, Panda Hogfish, Polkadot Wrasse, turncoat hogfish

Names in 6 more languages

German: Zweifleck-Schweinslippfisch
Spanish: Doncella Bicolor
French: Labre à tache pectorale, Labre bicolore, Tamarin
Japanese: Sumitsukibera, スミツキベラ
Thai: ปลานกขุนทองหน้าหมูจุดดำ
Simplified Chinese: 三齒仔, 日本婆仔, 紅娘仔, 腋斑寒鯛, 腋斑普提魚, 腋斑普提鱼, 腋斑狐鯛

Other scientific names: Cossyphus octomaculatus, Crossyphus octomaculatus, Labrus axillaris, Lepidaplois albomaculatus, Lepidaplois axillaris

Similar species

Diana's hogfish
Bodianus diana
False Diana's Pigfish
Bodianus dictynna
Blackfin hogfish
Bodianus loxozonus
Black-belt Hogfish
Bodianus mesothorax
Black-banded hogfish
Bodianus macrourus
Tripletail wrasse
Cheilinus trilobatus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
2,540 open-data records from 1940 to 2022.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.