Ringed Slender Wrasse

Hologymnosus annulatus has two colour forms which are geographically distinct, one in the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea and the other in the Pacific Ocean. In both forms the females are very dark, appearing almost black while the males are mostly greenish with a blue face. The males of the Indian form have a white band in the middle of the body, while the males of the Pacific form show a pale area on the caudal peduncle when breeding. The body of the males is marked with numerous bluish-red bars and they frequently show a pale yellowish bar above the origin of the anal fin, the head is pale purplish in colour with green to blue-green bands radiating out from the eye, the one running to the snout broadens and branches. Juvenile H. annulatus bear a close resemblance to the juveniles of Malacanthus latovittatus. The juvelines are brown to olive brown and have 17-19 dark brown bars. They have a blue and black spot on gill cover, a black spot on side of lips with the spots on the lower lip being larger and the tail fin has a large whitish crescent near its end.

Hologymnosus annulatus is distributed from the Red Sea south along the eastern, Indian Ocean coast of Africa to South Africa east to the Society Islands and Pitcairn Island in the Pacific its range extends north to southern Japan and south to the Great Barrier Reef and Rapa Island.