Snooty wrasse

Cheilinus oxycephalus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth5–24 m
Water temperature24–30 °C
Best monthsMarch, April, and May
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Ewout Knoester · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

The snooty wrasse, also known as the red maori wrasse, is a species of marine ray-finned fish from the family Labridae, the wrasses. It is a widespread Indo-Pacific reef fish.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Snooty wrasse”, 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: 53 records
February: 83 records
March: 180 records
April: 210 records
May: 246 records
June: 154 records
July: 105 records
August: 63 records
September: 56 records
October: 74 records
November: 50 records
December: 21 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–24 m · Deepest record: 150 m

0–10 m: 288 records
10–20 m: 396 records
20–30 m: 346 records
30–40 m: 10 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 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 24–30 °C

22–24 °C: 5 records
24–26 °C: 32 records
26–28 °C: 142 records
28–30 °C: 513 records

Photos

(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(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) cello caruso-turiello, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Snooty wrasse, plainfaced maori wrasse, Plain-faced Maori Wrasse, Pointed Head Maori Wrasse, Pointed-head Wrasse, Point-head Maori, Pointhead Maori-wrasse, Point-head Maori Wrasse, Red Maori Wrasse, Snooty Maori Wrasse, snooty wrasse, Snooty Wrasse

Names in 5 more languages

Spanish: Maorí Carmesí
Filipino: Mameng
French: Labre prétentieux
Japanese: Mitsuboshimochinouo, ミツボシモチノウオ
Simplified Chinese: 尖吻鸚鯛, 尖頭唇魚, 尖頭龍, 石蚱仔

Other scientific names: Cheilinus calophthalmus, Cheilinus ketlitzii, Cheilinus sanguineus

Similar species

Tripletail wrasse
Cheilinus trilobatus
Redbreasted wrasse
Cheilinus fasciatus
Floral wrasse
Cheilinus chlorourus
Broomtail wrasse
Cheilinus lunulatus
Humphead wrasse
Cheilinus undulatus
Abudjubbe
Cheilinus abudjubbe

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).
1,790 open-data records from 1909 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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