Common name: Ornate Wrasse.
Scientific name: Thalassoma pavo (Linnaeus, 1758)
Family: Labridae
Distribution and Habitat: Lives in the infralittoral, in rocky bottoms and in the circalittoral, up to 150 m depth.
Description: This fish has an elongated body with a grooved tail and an exuberant and varying colour depending on its gender. The males body is shiny orange green, forming thin vertical stripes; its head is reddish pink, with a turquoise reticulate. The fins are blue. It reaches 20 to 25 cm in length.
Conservation statute and Threats: Not evaluated.
Observations: At night, most of the individuals bury themselves in the sand. It is of no commercial interest. It is a protoginic hermaphrodite species, i.e. females become males as they get older. At night, it burries itself in the sand.
