Five-Spotted Wrasse (Crenilabrus Quinquemaculatus)

Latin name: Crenilabrus quinquemaculatus
Common name: Five-spotted wrasse
In other languages: E: Planchita, F: Crenilabre cinq taches, D: Fünffleckiger Lippfisch
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Labridae
Genus: Crenilabrus

Habitat: Rocky habitat, among seaweed.

Reproduction: The male is a nest builder and may build more than one nest during the breeding season throughout his home range. The male also fans the eggs which lie in the nest.

Life-Span: Up to 6 years.

Behaviour: This fish is very secretive and truly benthic, always moving around in the cover of rocks or seaweed and always staying close to the seabed. In the presence of a diver they will first stay perfectly still, relying on their overall dull colour and that of the surrounding substrate to conceal themselves. When their presence has been established, they play a kind of hide and seek. They are very good at this game. We have lost many in the blinking of an eye only to know that he or she is still there, under our nose, yet lost to our vision.

Size: Common: 8 - 16cm, maximum: 21cm.

Colour: The female is a greenish brown, the male more greenish with 3 discernible reddish horizontal lines on each flank and noticeable red lips during the breeding season.