Canary Wrasse

Halichoeres chrysus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth9–26 m
Water temperature20–30 °C
Best monthsJune
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by desertnaturalist · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Halichoeres chrysus, commonly called the canary wrasse, golden wrasse or yellow wrasse, is a wrasse native to the central Indo-Pacific area.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Halichoeres chrysus”, 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: 49 records
February: 37 records
March: 44 records
April: 69 records
May: 81 records
June: 140 records
July: 48 records
August: 53 records
September: 72 records
October: 50 records
November: 58 records
December: 39 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 9–26 m · Deepest record: 60 m

0–10 m: 44 records
10–20 m: 101 records
20–30 m: 19 records
30–40 m: 10 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 2 records
24–26 °C: 10 records
26–28 °C: 30 records
28–30 °C: 174 records

Photos

(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Rachel Crane, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Canary Wrasse, Golden Rainbow Fish, Golden Wrasse, Yellow Wrasse

Names in 5 more languages

German: Zitronen-Junker
Filipino: Bankilan, Bungat, Isdang bato
French: Labre canari
Japanese: Koganekyusen, Kogane-kyûsen, コガネキュウセン
Simplified Chinese: 柳冷仔, 金色儒艮鯛, 金色海豬魚, 黃尾海豬魚, 黃身海豬魚, 黃龍

Similar species

Checkerboard wrasse
Halichoeres hortulanus
duskytailed rainbowfish
Halichoeres melanurus
Half-grey Wrasse
Halichoeres prosopeion
Goldstripe Wrasse
Halichoeres hartzfeldii
Tripletail wrasse
Cheilinus trilobatus
Blunt-head Parrotfish
Chlorurus microrhinos

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).
475 open-data records from 1969 to 2018.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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