Ryukyu Fairy Wrasse
Cirrhilabrus ryukyuensis
- Usual depth7–24 m
- Water temperature28–29 °C
- Best monthsApril and July
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
About this species
Cirrhilabrus ryukyuensis is a wrasse from the western Pacific Ocean from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines north to Japan. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to a size of 15 cm (5.9 in) in length. Some authorities regard this taxon as a synonym of Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura, but FishBase and the Catalog of Fishes treat it as a valid species. This species was at times called Cirrhilabrus lyukyuensis, but this is treated as a misspelling.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Cirrhilabrus ryukyuensis”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 24 records
- February: 16 records
- March: 12 records
- April: 52 records
- May: 25 records
- June: 8 records
- July: 45 records
- August: 12 records
- September: 8 records
- October: 9 records
- November: 12 records
- December: 19 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 7–24 m · Deepest record: 27.6 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 28–29 °C
Photos
(c) 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Slunky, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) Ben Jobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Slunky, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Ryukyu Fairy Wrasse, Yellow-flanked Wrasse
Names in 1 more languages
- Simplified Chinese
- 琉球絲鰭鸚鯛
Other scientific names: Cirrhilabrus lyukyuensis
Similar species
Blue-scaled Fairy WrasseCirrhilabrus cyanopleura
Exquisite wrasseCirrhilabrus exquisitus
Black-finned WrasseCirrhilabrus punctatus
Scott's Fairy-wrasseCirrhilabrus scottorum
Peacock WrasseCirrhilabrus temminckii
Latigo Fairy WrasseCirrhilabrus briangreenei
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).
- 65 open-data records from 2013 to 2016.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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