marylou.wildlife

Maria, all wrasse species are born female. Wrasses are protogynous hermaphrodites, meaning females transition to male in the wild as harem conditions and space require. During transition, the females go through two primary phases... initial phase male and terminal phase male. At the terminal phase, a full transition has been completed and the fish is 100% male. Up until that point, they are in an initial phase. In a harem, they will only be one terminal phase male, which is essentially the alpha male.

Jones4, I'm guessing it was around 11-13 cm. It was probably the most delicate little snake I've ever held.

Thanks everyone :) I was very fortunate to get to see one of the beauties in the wild. If not for the brilliant red (which I think is characteristic of most juveniles of this species) it probably would have never been spotted at night. Karen, that is very unfortunate that you had to see one that was no longer living, and even more so that your guide was so misled. It's a sad fate for snakes... the ones which aren't dangerous at all tend to mimic other venomous species in order to ward off predators. Too bad that backfires when it comes to humans... I'm sure we are the only species which go out of our way to mess with and take out those animals which have some sort of defensive mechanism that in most cases wouldn't be wasted on humans unless put in a situation where they are left with no choice.

What a beauty!

Wow, that is just incredible! Doesn't even look real! Amazing find!

Jakubko, this individual was probably around 10-12 cm. I did not realize I had no information on this species until I saw your comment! Thanks!

I know... I'd love to know just how old this one was!

Thanks Smith Zoo!!

Nice!

AfriBats, it doesn't seem that I have a lateral view photo... they were all taken at about this same angle so as not to disturb it too much. Thanks for the suggestion though. I've changed the name back to just the genera. And Karen, I'm on that right now!