Cigar Wrasse

Cheilio inermis

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Labriformes
Family: Labridae
Genus: Cheilio
Species: Cheilio inermis

The cigar wrasse (Cheilio inermis) is a very long, slender wrasse with a pointed snout, shaped more like a cigar than a typical reef fish. Its colour varies from green to brown or yellow, sometimes with a dark mid-body stripe.

It grows to about 50 cm and hunts small crustaceans, molluscs and fish in seagrass beds, algae and rubble, where its shape and colour let it hide among the blades. Larger males can show orange or pink patches behind the pectoral fin.

The cigar wrasse ranges across the Indo-Pacific, including the Philippines, where it is most often seen cruising over seagrass and sandy reef flats.