Oriental sweetlips

How do you identify an oriental sweetlips?

The oriental sweetlips is a reef fish with a deep, compressed body that reaches 72 centimeters. Adults are light gray with a white belly, striped along their whole length with six to twelve wide brown-black bands alternating with white, the dark bands wider toward the back; the snout, forehead and fins are yellow, and the dorsal, anal and tail fins are dotted with black. The lips are thick and fleshy, hence the name sweetlips. The juvenile looks nothing like it: it has joined black blotches and marbling that slowly split into lengthwise stripes as it grows, and its pectoral fins are black where the adult's are yellow.

How do oriental sweetlips live?

It lives on coastal coral and rocky reefs of the western Indo-Pacific, from Djibouti to South Africa, from Madagascar, the Seychelles and the Mascarenes to India and the Andamans, and as far as Micronesia, Samoa and New Caledonia; it is particularly abundant in the Maldives. You find it between 2 and 25 meters, in lagoons and on outer reefs. By day, it stays motionless under overhangs and in crevices, alone or in small groups; at night, it goes out to hunt small invertebrates on the bottom, crustaceans, gastropods and annelids, as well as small fish. Juveniles live alone in clear, shallow lagoons, tide pools and seagrass beds. It spawns in distinct pairs.

Where and when can you see oriental sweetlips?

In the Maldives, it is there year-round: at Banana Reef, in the Malé atolls, in small groups sheltering under the overhangs; at Kuda Rah Thila, in Ari Atoll, in groups under the overhangs, motionless. Look for it with a light, under the blocks and in the crevices, where it waits for night.

Is the oriental sweetlips endangered?

The oriental sweetlips is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It is caught with lines and spears, in small quantities, and sold fresh or lightly salted; a few go to the aquarium trade. Its size, colors and calm make it one of the favorite fish of photographers and snorkelers, who find it without even looking in the top few meters of Maldives reefs. It is also known as the Indian Ocean oriental sweetlips, and the name Plectorhinchus orientalis, still in use, is a synonym for some and a separate species for others.