Moon wrasse

About this species

The moon wrasse also known as the crescent wrasse or lyretail wrasse, is a species of wrasse native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. It is an inhabitant of coral reefs and surrounding areas at depths from 1 to 20 m. Moon wrasses are carnivorous and tend to prey on fish eggs and small sea-floor dwelling invertebrates. This species can reach 45 cm (18 in) in total length. It is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries and can also be found in the aquarium trade.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Moon 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: 488 records
February: 463 records
March: 615 records
April: 837 records
May: 633 records
June: 1,028 records
July: 695 records
August: 520 records
September: 596 records
October: 844 records
November: 548 records
December: 482 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 3–17 m · Deepest record: 75 m

0–10 m: 1,425 records
10–20 m: 603 records
20–30 m: 149 records
30–40 m: 7 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 18–30 °C

16–18 °C: 1 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 6 records
22–24 °C: 16 records
24–26 °C: 48 records
26–28 °C: 80 records
28–30 °C: 141 records
30–32 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by portioid · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ian Dugdale, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Susan Prior, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Susan Prior, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Moon wrasse, Blue Wrasse, Crescent-Tail Wrasse, Crescent Wrasse, Lyretail Wrasse, moon wrasse

Names in 3 more languages

French: Girelle Paon, Girelle verte
Japanese: Otomebera, オトメベラ
Simplified Chinese: 新月錦魚

Other scientific names: Julis lunaris, Julis trimaculatus, Labrus lunaris, Thalassoma lunaris, Thallasoma lunare

Similar species

Bluntheaded wrasse
Thalassoma amblycephalum
Parrotfish
Thalassoma hardwicke
Blue-fin Wrasse
Thalassoma lutescens
blackspot wrasse
Thalassoma quinquevittatum
Jansen's Wrasse
Thalassoma jansenii
Surge wrasse
Thalassoma purpureum

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).
8,471 open-data records from 1902 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.