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Blackbelt Hogfish
Bodianus mesothorax
The split-level hogfish, Bodianus mesothorax, is a species of wrasse native to the western Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean. They can be found on reefs at depths of 5 to 40 m (16 to 131 ft), though rarely below 20 m (66 ft). Juveniles inhabit caves in the reef. Adults of this species clean other fish by eating parasites on the body of other reef fish. This species can reach a length of 25 cm (9.8 in). This species can...
From the article Bodianus mesothorax on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
Adult Bodianus mesothorax has a distinct blackish diagonal band between the purplish head end of the body and the whitish to yellowish posterior part. The juveniles, in contrast, has a dark purple body speckled with bright yellow spots (juvenile axilspot hogfish (Bodianus axillaris) is similar, ahough this fish has white rather than yellow spots). The body pattern and coloration of juveniles change to the adult ones when they attain a length of 5 to 6 cm (2.0 to 2.4 in). They take only a few weeks to change completely, so intermediate fish are very rarely recorded. The adults are distinguished from adult axilspot hogfish by the dark diagonal band and the lack of spots on the dorsal and the anal fins.
Range & habitat
Bodianus mesothorax is found as far as the Nicobar Islands in the Andaman Sea in the west, as far as Japan in the north, as far as Fiji in the east and as far as Australia in the south.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Bodianus mesothorax in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 95831.