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Oxycheilinus unifasciatus

Pāueue (MG)

Ringtail Wrasse

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Type	Description	Download
Image:	Male	29KB
Image:	Initial phase	46KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Ringtail Wrasse, Ringtail Maori Wrasse, One-band Wrasse, Rosecolored Wrasse; French Labre à Anneau Blanc

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Pāueue (MG), Poue (AT), Paue (MK), Pōue (MT), Kautōtonu (TS TW), Wūakulā (PK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Cocos - Tuamotus, Hawai‘i; n. to s.Japan; s. to New Caledonia - Rapa

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group and N.Group. Rare. PLUS:; Marine, near-shore, lagoon and outer reef-slope; 10-150+ metres

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Excellent bait for dropstoning for Tuna.

KEY FEATURES: To 40cm SL. Slender, depth 3x in SL; lower jaw lage and protruding; tail slightly rounded. ADULT colour changeable; usually olive-green with dark red bars on body scales; head with orange stripes dorsally and diagonal bars on cheeks; behind eye two parallel diagonal orange stripes; anterior tailbase with white band. Another colour phase has yellow or white between the paralled lines behind the eye connecting to a pale lowerhalf of body.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Bandcheek Wrasse (Oxycheilinus digrammus) lack pale band on tailbase (vs. with pale band); lack diagonal parallel stripes behind eye (vs. with parallel stripes).

Enlarged Image of 'Oxycheilinus unifasciatus'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P	P	^^P	^^P		-

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			P		P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Oxycheilinus unifasciatus (Streets, 1877)
SYNONYMS: Cheilinus unifasciatus [O]

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Perciformes; Labroidei; LABRIDAE, Cheilinini

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: field specimen & photo outer reef-slope ID N.Sims, confirmed J.E.Randall as Cheilinus unifasciatus (Sims88). Atiu: field-specimen, College collection, 10/2000, ID GMcC. Mauke: field specimen+photo, College, 3/2001, ID GMcC. Pukapuka: fieldspecimen+photo, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Oxycheilinus unifasciatus. Suwarrow: Photo lagoon N.Sims, ID J.E.Randall "probably Cheilinus unifasciatus" (Sims88 & EIA99).

References:
text p.179 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
plate 91e Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.304 Randall et al. (1990) Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef....
p.431 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 92-07 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
plate 70-11 Allen (1997) Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia....

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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