This wrasse is a well known New South Wales coastal reef species that also inhabits the coast from Queensland and south to Mallacoota. In Tasmania, this species has been identified in diving surveys in the Bass Strait and around the Kent Group Islands.

MALE: have a green body and white tail with the namesake red band across the body and red fins.
FEMALE: The females are red with many rows of white dots all over the body.
JUVENILE: are green with white spots.

Family: LABRIDAE known as wrasses
Family members also on the Redmap list: southern maori wrasse, snakeskin wrasse and eastern blue groper
Habitat: Exposed reef
Size: Up to about 50cm
Image: G. Edgar (Female) and R. Stuart-Smith (Male)
Log it: Log this species wherever it is spotted in Tasmanian waters.

Species names on the Redmap site are based on the Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota or CAAB http://www.cmar.csiro.au/caab/

This is updated regularly and lists the approved common name, family, species name and more.

Redmap species descriptions were based, with permission from the following books.

• Australian Marine Life: The Plants and Animals of Temperate Waters by G. J. Edgar, Revised (2008) Reed Books, Melbourne
• Fishes of Australia’s Southern Coast, Edited by M. Gomon. D. Bray and R. Kuiter (2008)  Reed Books, Melbourne
• Last, P. R., Scott, E. 0. G., and Talbot, F. H. (1983). 'Fishes of Tasmania.' (Tasmanian Fisheries Development Authority: Hobart)