| Sweetlips Fossil range: Miocene to Present |
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| Harlequin sweetlips,Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Haemulidae |
| Species | |
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See text. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Sweetlips |
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The sweetlips, Plectorhinchus, are a genera, in the family Haemulidae, with 35 species found in fresh, brackish and salt waters. These fish have big fleshy lips and tend to live on coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific in small groups or pairs. They will often associate with other fishes of similar species, and it is not unusual to see several species of sweetlips all swimming together. They are usually seen in clusters in nooks and crannies or under overhangs. Not until night falls do they venture from their shelters to seek out their bottom-dwelling invertebrate prey, such as bristle worms or shrimps and small crabs.
Sweetlips' colouring and patterning changes throughout their lives. Adult ribboned sweetlips (Plectorhinchus polytaenia) develop increasing stripes with age. Juvenile sweetlips generally look quite different to the adults and often live a solitary life on shallower reef sections than those where the adults are found. Juveniles may be banded or spotted and are usually a completely different color to the adult. Small juveniles have a strange undulating way of swimming, possibly mimicking poisonous flatworms as a means of camouflage
Species
- Plectorhinchus albovittatus, Two-striped sweetlips (Rüppell, 1838)
- Plectorhinchus celebicus, Celebes sweetlips Bleeker, 1873
- Plectorhinchus ceylonensis, Sri Lanka sweetlips (Smith, 1956)
- Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides, Harlequin sweetlips Lacepède, 1801
- Plectorhinchus chrysotaenia, Yellow-striped sweetlips (Bleeker, 1855)
- Plectorhinchus chubbi, Dusky rubberlip (Regan, 1919)
- Plectorhinchus cinctus, Crescent sweetlips (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843)
- Plectorhinchus diagrammus, Striped sweetlips (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Plectorhinchus faetela (Forsskål, 1775)
- Plectorhinchus flavomaculatus, Lemon sweetlip (Cuvier, 1830)
- Plectorhinchus gaterinoides, Lined sweetlips (Smith, 1962)
- Plectorhinchus gaterinus, Blackspotted rubberlip (Forsskål, 1775)
- Plectorhinchus gibbosus, Harry hotlips (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1853)
- Plectorhinchus harrawayi (Smith, 1952)
- Plectorhinchus lessonii, Lesson's thicklip (Cuvier, 1830)
- Plectorhinchus lineatus, Yellowbanded sweetlips (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Plectorhinchus macrolepis, Biglip grunt (Boulenger, 1899)
- Plectorhinchus macrospilus Satapoomin & Randall, 2000
- Plectorhinchus mediterraneus, Rubberlip grunt (Guichenot, 1850)
- Plectorhinchus multivittatus, Many-lined sweetlips (Macleay, 1878)
- Plectorhinchus nigrus (Cuvier, 1830)
- Plectorhinchus obscurus, Giant sweetlips (Günther, 1872)
- Plectorhinchus orientalis, Oriental sweetlips (Bloch, 1793)
- Plectorhinchus paulayi, Zebra sweetlip Steindachner, 1895
- Plectorhinchus pictus, Trout sweetlips (Tortonese, 1936)
- Plectorhinchus picus, Painted sweetlip (Cuvier, 1830)
- Plectorhinchus plagiodesmus, Barred rubberlip Fowler, 1935
- Plectorhinchus playfairi, Whitebarred rubberlip (Pellegrin, 1914)
- Plectorhinchus polytaenia, Ribboned sweetlips (Bleeker, 1852)
- Plectorhinchus punctatissimus (Playfair, 1868)
- Plectorhinchus schotaf, Minstrel sweetlip (Forsskål, 1775)
- Plectorhinchus sordidus, Sordid rubberlip (Klunzinger, 1870)
- Plectorhinchus umbrinus (Klunzinger, 1870)
- Plectorhinchus unicolor (Macleay, 1883)
- Plectorhinchus vittatus, Oriental Sweetlips (Linnaeus, 1758)
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