Slippery Dick

The Slippery Dick (Halichoeres bivittatus) is an abundant small wrasse of the western Atlantic, from the Carolinas through the Caribbean. It is a slender, variably coloured fish marked by two dark stripes running the length of the body and a small dark spot near the tail. Coloration shifts with growth and sex phase, from pale greenish juveniles to more strongly marked adults. It is an active, ubiquitous reef and seagrass forager, often one of the first fish divers notice picking around rubble and coral.

Identify the Slippery Dick by:

• Two dark horizontal stripes running along a slender pale-green to tan body.
• A small dark spot at the base of the tail and often a spot behind the eye.
• Pinkish or greenish head lines in adults.
• Small size, ~15-20 cm.

The paired body stripes plus tail-base spot separate it from other western-Atlantic Halichoeres wrasses.

Slippery Dicks inhabit coral reefs, rocky bottoms, rubble, and seagrass beds from the shallows to about 15 m throughout the western Atlantic and Caribbean. They are habitat generalists, common in a wide range of shallow inshore settings, and are among the most frequently encountered small wrasses in the region.

Slippery Dicks are restless, diurnal foragers that roam the bottom for small crustaceans, worms, molluscs, and other invertebrates, and they will pick parasites from other fishes. They bury in sand at night and when threatened. Like other wrasses they are protogynous hermaphrodites, with dominant terminal-phase males displaying the strongest colours and spawning with females in the water column.