Bluehead

About this species

The blue-throated wrasse, also known as the bluehead, bluehead parrotfish, bluenose, bluenose parrotfish, bluethroat parrotfish, blue-throat wrasse, kelpie, lilac banded parrotfish, rocky bream, rocky cod, rotfish or winter bream, is a species of marine ray-finned fish from the family Labridae, the wrasses. It is found in the Indian and Pacific Ocean off the south-eastern coasts of Australia.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Blue-throated 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: 573 records
February: 580 records
March: 1,295 records
April: 903 records
May: 983 records
June: 998 records
July: 388 records
August: 452 records
September: 334 records
October: 418 records
November: 511 records
December: 470 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–10 m · Deepest record: 200 m

0–10 m: 4,077 records
10–20 m: 480 records
20–30 m: 3 records
30–40 m: 9 records
40–50 m: 23 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 1 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 14–18 °C

12–14 °C: 64 records
14–16 °C: 479 records
16–18 °C: 124 records

Photos

(c) Bruce Deagle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) ttsquid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Peter Crowcroft, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) ttsquid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bruce Deagle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lek Khauv, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lek Khauv, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Bluehead, Bluehead Parrotfish, Bluenose, Bluenose Parrotfish, Blue-throated Parrotfish, Bluethroated Parrotfish, Blue-throated Wrasse, Bluethroated Wrasse, Bluethroat Parrotfish, Blue-throat Parrot Fish, Blue-throat Wrasse, Bluethroat Wrasse, Kelpie, Lilac-banded Parrotfish, Lilac Banded Parrotfish, Parrotie, Rocky Bream, Rocky Cod, Rotfish, Winter Bream

Names in 2 more languages

German: Weißbinden-Lippfisch
Simplified Chinese: 凶猛背唇隆頭魚

Other scientific names: Labrichthys bleekeri, Labrichthys cuvieri, Labrichthys cyanogenys, Labrichthys richardsoni, Labrichthys tetrica, Labrichthys vestita, Labrus tetricus, Pseudolabrus bleekeri, Pseudolabrus cyanogenys, Pseudolabrus richardsonii, Pseudolabrus tetrica, Pseudolabrus tetricus, Pseudolabrus vestitus, Tautoga tetrica

Similar species

banded parrotfish
Notolabrus fucicola
spotty
Notolabrus celidotus
Crimson-banded Parrot-fish
Notolabrus gymnogenis
Green Wrasse
Notolabrus inscriptus
Brown-spotted Parrotfish
Notolabrus parilus
Girdled Wrasse
Notolabrus cinctus

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).
10,925 open-data records from 1868 to 2023.
Species data updated November 5, 2026.