Pale Slender Wrasse

In Hologymnosus longipes, the females are pale greenish-yellow to bluish-grey and have 2 rows of vertically elongated orange spots on their body, continuing to the head, where they merge to form stripes. The tail fin varies in colour from orange to yellow. Males are greenish, fading to whitish below, and have a green head, which is a pattern of pink bars radiating out from the eye; they also have orange bars on the flanks, which fade to pale lavenderish-blue to purple on the lower side towards the head. The males also have an oval black spot on the flanks above the pectoral fin, and a large, whitish patch on the posterior of the blue-coloured caudal fin. This species grows to a total length of 40 centimetres (16 in). The dorsal fin has 9 spines and 12 soft rays, while the anal fin has 3 spines and 12 soft rays.

Hologymnosus longipes is found in the Western Pacific in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and the Great Barrier Reef off Australia.