Bluebreast Wrasse

Leptojulis cyanopleura

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth18–52 m
Water temperature20–30 °C
Best monthsJanuary, February, and November
How commonOccasional

About this species

Leptojulis cyanopleura, the shoulder-spot wrasse, is a species of marine ray-finned fish from the family Labridae, the wrasses. It is found in the Indo-West Pacific from the Gulf of Oman, Socotra and the Persian Gulf, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, southwest India, Malaysia and Singapore and through the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines to the Solomon Islands south to Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia and New South Wales in Australia. This species forms harems, consisting of a single male and a number of females, in areas with rubble and weed where the water is turbid and rich in plankton, on which this species feeds.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Leptojulis cyanopleura”, 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: 41 records
February: 43 records
March: 5 records
April: 2 records
May: 7 records
June: 10 records
July: 2 records
August: 9 records
September: 9 records
October: 38 records
November: 47 records
December: 16 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 18–52 m · Deepest record: 97 m

0–10 m: 12 records
10–20 m: 14 records
20–30 m: 48 records
30–40 m: 84 records
40–50 m: 33 records
50–60 m: 12 records
60–70 m: 5 records
70–80 m: 5 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 5 records
22–24 °C: 22 records
24–26 °C: 141 records
26–28 °C: 26 records
28–30 °C: 36 records

Names and classification

English: Bluebreast Wrasse, Blue-sided Wrasse, Blue-spot V-wrasse, Blue-spot Wrasse, Shoulder-spot Wrasse, Shoulderspot Wrasse, Weedy Wrasse

Other scientific names: Halichoeres cyanopleura, Julis cyanopleura, Julis pyrrhogrammatoides, Leptojulis pyrrhogrammatoides

Similar species

Leptojulis lambdastigma
tailmark wrasse
Leptojulis urostigma
Tripletail wrasse
Cheilinus trilobatus
Blunt-head Parrotfish
Chlorurus microrhinos
bullethead parrotfish
Chlorurus sordidus
Clown wrasse
Coris aygula

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).
354 open-data records from 1853 to 2021.

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