Blackear Wrasse, Halichoeres poeyi

Blackear Wrasse, Halichoeres poeyi, Initial Phase (IP) Female. Fish caught from coastal waters off Boca Raton, Florida, January 2023. Length: 14 cm (5.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Aidan Perkins, Long Island, New York.

Blackear Wrasse, Halichoeres poeyi, Initial Phase (IP) Female Transitioning to a Terminal Phase (TP) Male. Fish caught from coastal waters off San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 2013. Length: 12.5 cm (4.9 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Josh Leisen (joshadventures.com), Gaylord, Michigan.

Blackear Wrasse, Halichoeres poeyi, Initial Phase (IP) Female Transitioning to a Terminal Phase (TP) Male.  Fish caught from within the Phil Foster Park, Riviera Beach, Florida, June 2023. Length: 12.5 cm (4.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.

Blackear Wrasse, Halichoeres poeyi, Initial Phase (IP) Female Transitioning to a Terminal Phase (TP) Male. Fish caught from coastal waters off Boca Raton, Florida, January 2023. Length: 14 cm (5.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Aidan Perkins, Long Island, New York.

Blackear Wrasse, Halichoeres poeyi, Terminal Phase (TP) Male. Fish caught from coastal waters off Deerfield Beach, Florida, December 2015. Length: 15 cm (5.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).

Blackear Wrasse, Halichoeres poeyi, Terminal Phase (TP) Male. Fish caught from coastal waters off Sebastian, Florida, May 2021. Length: 15 cm (5.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, Sebastian, Florida.

Blackear Wrasse, Halichoeres poeyi, Terminal Phase (TP) Male. Fish caught off the beach at Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, February 2016. Length: 15 cm (5.9 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

The Blackear Wrasse, Halichoeres poeyi, is a member of the Wrasse or Labridae Family, and is known in Mexico as doncella orejinegra. Globally, there are seventy species in the genus Halichoeres, seventeen of which are found in Mexican waters, ten in the Atlantic and seven in the Pacific Ocean.

The Blackear Wrasse has an elongated compressed bodies with a depth that is 25 to 29% of standard length. Juveniles are yellowish-green with irregular short brown bars along the center of their body, an elongated black ocellus at the rear of their dorsal fin spines, a smaller black spot at the rear of their dorsal fin rays, and a small black spot in the center of their caudal fin base. Females (Initial Phase) are similar in color to males except that their colors are less intense and their body is a uniform yellowish-green. Males (Terminal Phase) have greenish bodies with 2 yellow-brown bars under their spiny dorsal fin and a yellowish-green head with a prominent iridescent black-orange spot immediately behind their eyes. They have 3 wide pink stripes – 1 that extends forward from the eye, 1 that extends back along the gill cover, and 1 that extends from the mouth to the gill cover. The upper base of their pectoral fin has a blue-black spot and there is a black spot on the rear base of their dorsal fin. Their caudal fin is yellowish with converging pink stripes and blue borders. Their head has a protrusible mouth that opens in the front with thick lips. They are equipped with canine teeth with two pairs on their top jaw, one at the front and one at the rear, and two pairs at the front of their lower jaw. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 12 rays; their caudal fin is square; and, their dorsal fin has 9 spines and 12 rays and is continuous. They have 17 to 20 gill rakers. They are covered with scales. Their lateral line is continuous with an abrupt downturn under the rear end of the dorsal fin.

The Blackear Wrasse is a coastal resident found in beds of turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum) where food and refuge are plentiful, at depths up to 30 m (100 feet). They reach a maximum of 20.0 cm (7.9 inches) in length. They are normally solitary and wary. They feed primarily on small crustaceans and mollusks. They are protogynous hermaphrodites with females being able to transform into fully functional males at midlife; this transition occurs when the fish reach about 8.3 cm (3.3 inches) in length. Males form leks during breeding where they aggregate and put on extensive displays to attract females. Fertilization is external with pelagic eggs developing rapidly. They have the ability to hide in sandy substrate when frightened. The Blackear Wrasse 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 Blackear Wrasse is a resident of Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean but has a limited distribution being found is coastal waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and along the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean.

The Blackear Wrasse is most likely confused with the Slippery Dick, Halichoeres bivittatus (lacks yellow coloration; black spot behind eye closer to pectoral fins).

From a conservation perspective the Blackear Wrasse is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are small in stature and of limited interest to most, thus a “catch and release.” They are fairly common with a wide distribution in the Caribbean. They have been used on a very limited basis by the aquarium trade.