Barred Hamlet, Hypoplectrus puella

Barred Hamlet, Hypoplectrus puella. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters of Yal-Ku, Quintana Roo, April 2016. Photograph courtesy of Juan Rojo, Akumal.

Barred Hamlet, Hypoplectrus puella. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters off Bonaire, December 2019. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.

The Barred Hamlet, Hypoplectrus puella, is a member of the Sea Bass or Serranidae Family, and is known in Mexico as mero barril. Globally, there are eighteen species in the genus Hypoplectrus, of which fourteen are found in Mexican waters, all in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Barred Hamlet has a deep and strongly compressed body. The head has a straight profile with a relatively short snout, a protrusible top jaw, fixed teeth, and several small forward pointing spines on the lower margin of the gill covers. The adults are tan dorsally transitioning to yellow and white ventrally. They have a blue ring around their eyes, thin blue bars before the eye and across the gill cover. They have oblique brown bars running through the eyes from the nape to the pectoral base, a broad bar under the spiny portion of the dorsal fin, thin bars under the rayous portion of the dorsal fin and caudal fin base. Their anal, caudal and dorsal fins are gray; their pelvic fins are yellow. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 7 rays; their caudal fin is slightly lunate; their dorsal fin is continuous with 10 spines and 14 to 17 rays; and, their pelvic fins are long reaching past the anus. They have 17 to 23 gill rakers. They are covered with small scales.

The Barred Hamlet is a non-migratory, solitary species that is found in waters adjacent to reefs in close proximity to cover at depths up to 90 m (295 feet). Juveniles are found within grass beds. They reach a maximum of 16.7 cm (6.6 inches) in length. They feed on crustaceans and smaller fishes. In turn they are preyed upon by a variety of larger fishes and the juveniles are consumed by the invasive Red Lionfish, Pterois volitans. Reproduction is as synchronous hermaphrodites with individuals alternating male and female “roles” during spawning. Their larvae have a three-week pelagic duration with small distribution range. The Barred Hamlet is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Barred Hamlet is most likely confused with the Florida Hamlet, Hypoplectrus floridae (2 spots on the caudal base) and the Spotted Hamlet, Hypoplectrus ecosur (spots on top of rear back).

The Barred Hamlet is a resident of Mexican waters of the Atlantic but has a limited range being found only from along the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Tuxpan, Veracruz to the Yucatán Peninsula and along the entire east coast of the Yucatán in the Caribbean.

From a conservation perspective the Barred Hamlet is currently considered of Least Concern with stable and widely distributed populations. They are relatively small in stature and known to contain ciguatoxin and are of limited interest to most. They are not utilized by the aquarium trade.