Plectorhinchus vittatus

Behavior:

Known for their distinctively thick, “fleshy” lips, Oriental sweetlips are primarily nocturnal hunters. During the day, they are a favorite for underwater photographers as they tend to hover nearly motionless in large, colorful aggregations under coral overhangs or near table corals. At night, the schools disperse as individuals move into sandy flats and seagrass beds to forage for benthic invertebrates like crustaceans and marine worms.

Predators:

Snapper, grouper and reef sharks.

Did you know?

This species undergoes one of the most dramatic physical transformations in the reef world. Juveniles look almost nothing like the adults; they have a brown-and-white blotched pattern and swim with a frantic, undulating motion that mimics a toxic flatworm to deter predators. As they mature, this “clown-like” pattern stretches into the elegant horizontal black-and-white stripes seen in adults.