Moon Wrasse Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Slender, elongated body colored bright green to blue-green
• Distinctive crescent-shaped (moon-shaped) yellow-orange band across the rear edge of the tail fin, giving the species its name
• Pink to violet wavy lines radiating from the eye across the face
• Pink-edged scales that create a faint diagonal patterning along the flanks
• Rounded tail fin with the crescent mark bordered by a darker outer edge
• Grows to about 25 cm, with males typically larger and more vividly marked than females

Common look-alikes

• Yellowtail wrasse: has an entirely yellow tail fin rather than a crescent-shaped band, and lacks the pink facial lines
• Bird wrasse: shares a greenish body in males but has an unmistakably elongated, tubular snout that Moon Wrasse never shows
• Klunzinger's wrasse: similar green tone but marked with vertical pink bars on the body instead of a moon-shaped tail marking

Where you'll see one

Moon Wrasse are among the most frequently encountered wrasses on Indo-Pacific reefs, patrolling shallow lagoons, reef flats, and outer reef slopes from the surface to about 20 m, often darting between coral heads in small groups while foraging over rubble and sand.