Harlequin / Many Spotted Sweetlips

Description:

Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides, the harlequin sweetlips, is a species of grunt. Juveniles are brown with large white blotches and mimic the movement of a poisonous flatworm for defence against predators. They gain more spots and the spots reverse from white to black as they age. They tends to be solitary during juvenile phase but sometimes forms a Group at adulthood. Usually, they hang around a cleaning station when not hunting. In this picture, this individual is getting cleaned by a Pyjama Cleaner Wrasse. It will opens its mouth and lets the Cleaner Wrasse gets into its mouth to feed on parasites inside its mouth and on the gills.

Habitat:

It is a denizen of coral reefs found at depths of from 1 to 30 m (3.3 to 98.4 ft) in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean.