Black-finned Wrasse

About this species

Cirrhilabrus punctatus, dotted wrasse, or, is a species of wrasse native to the western Pacific Ocean, where it occurs from Papua New Guinea and Australia to Tonga and Fiji. It inhabits coral reefs at depths from 2 to 35 m, though mostly between 5 and 28 m. It can reach a total length of 13 cm (5.1 in). This species is found in the aquarium trade.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Cirrhilabrus punctatus”, 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: 145 records
February: 87 records
March: 88 records
April: 46 records
May: 92 records
June: 139 records
July: 128 records
August: 87 records
September: 114 records
October: 197 records
November: 91 records
December: 50 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–29 m · Deepest record: 69 m

0–10 m: 444 records
10–20 m: 167 records
20–30 m: 93 records
30–40 m: 59 records
40–50 m: 11 records
50–60 m: 3 records
60–70 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 19–30 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 4 records
22–24 °C: 17 records
24–26 °C: 106 records
26–28 °C: 378 records
28–30 °C: 59 records

Photos

(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Oscar Dove, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) jeyre, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) jeyre, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Oscar Dove, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Black-finned Wrasse, Dotted Wrasse, Fine-spotted Fairy-wrasse, Fine-spotted Wrasse, Finespot Wrasse, Small-spotted Wrasse

Names in 2 more languages

French: Labre ponctué
Simplified Chinese: 大斑絲鰭鸚鯛

Similar species

Blue-scaled Fairy Wrasse
Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura
Exquisite wrasse
Cirrhilabrus exquisitus
Scott's Fairy-wrasse
Cirrhilabrus scottorum
Peacock Wrasse
Cirrhilabrus temminckii
Latigo Fairy Wrasse
Cirrhilabrus briangreenei
Lubbock's Wrasse
Cirrhilabrus lubbocki

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).
1,899 open-data records from 1971 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.