Cape Wrasse, Halichoeres inornatus

Cape Wrasse, Halichoeres inornatus, Initial Phase (IP), Female. Fish caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, Baja California Sur, December 2016. Length: 15.8 cm (6.2 inches).

Cape Wrasse, Halichoeres inornatus, Terminal Phase (TP), Male. Fish caught from coastal waters off Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, July 2007. Length: 13 cm (5.1 inches). Identification courtesy of Dr. Benjamin Victor, www.coralreeffish.com.

The Cape Wrasse, Halichoeres inornatus, is a member of the Wrasse or Labridae Family, and is known in Mexico as señorita del Cabo. This species was first reported by Gilbert in 1890 then virtually disappeared from the literature. It was rediscovered, aided by photographs on this website, by Dr. Benjamin Victor, coralreefish.com, and published in Zootaxa 3669 (4): 551–570, 2013. In 2017 this species was reassigned to the Halichoeres Genus by Wainwright, et al., Molecular Phylogenetis and Evolution, 121: 35-45 (2017). Globally, there is only one species in the genus Sagittalarva, this fish that is found in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The Cape Wrasse has a long slender very compressed bodies with a depth that is 9.0% to 10.5% of standard length. Males have a salmon-pink to orange coloration with bright blue stripes that follow the lateral line and a series of broken blue lines on their head. Both dorsal and caudal fins have salmon and white bands with a wide black band on their margins. The markings of juveniles and females are unknown due to a lack of fish for examination. They have a small terminal mouth equipped with a single pair of enlarged canine teeth at the front of their upper and lower jaws (a key to identification) and a long pointed snout. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 12 rays; their caudal fin is rounded; their dorsal fin has 9 spines, that are pungent with the first spine being the shortest and subsequent spines and rays being progressively longer, and 12 rays; and their pectoral fins have 13 rays. They have 16 gill rakers. They are covered with large scales. They have a complete lateral line that bends downward abruptly under the second dorsal fin.

The Cape Wrasse is found over sandy or rubble bottoms adjacent to reefs at depths between 50 m (160 feet) and 150 m (500 feet). They reach a maximum of 16.2 cm (6.4 inches) in length. They are solitary diurnal opportunistic feeders and benefit from disturbances caused by other fish and consume brittle stars, crabs, mollusks, and sea urchins.  The Cape 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 Cape Razorfish is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a very limited distribution and are currently known only to reside within the greater Los Cabos area of Baja California Sur, in the extreme southwest corner of the Sea of Cortez.

The Cape Wrasse is one of the more difficult wrasses to identify due to the undocumented coloration patterns of the juveniles and females both of which most certainly undergo a major color transition as they mature. They are similar to the Chameleon Wrasse, Halichoeres dispilus (lacks black caudal and dorsal margins and the blue line under the eye.).

From a conservation perspective the Cape Wrasse has not been formally evaluated. They are small in stature and too rare to be of interest to most.