Spotted Wrasse Labrus bergylta
Photo: E. Hensel
There are also colorful fish in the North Sea
Colorful fish are more likely to be expected in the tropical seas. But also in the North Sea you can find some species that impress with the variety and intensity of their colors. These include the spotted wrasse Labrus bergylta and the cuckoo wrasse Labrus bimaculatus, which could also be seen in the Helgoland aquarium between boulders, in concrete tubes or caves.
The spotted wrasse “owed” its existence in the aquarium to an attentive and prudent fisherman, who caught the fish a few years ago near Heligoland. The eye-catching, honeycomb or net-like pattern that covers the entire body of the fish, as well as the intense gray-greenish color The color of the fish prompted the fisherman not to put the supposed exotic in his home cooking pot, but to hand it over immediately to the Helgoland Aquarium, where the animal was first quartered in a tank that it shared with a lobster. After the lobster had surprisingly shed its skin, it was used The wrasse had this opportunity to attack the still soft claws with a powerful bite. The battered claws were finally thrown off by the lobster, which was not a tragic event for the animal, as it can reproduce lost extremities in the course of further moulting then happened, but to prevent another confrontation, the spotted man was turned Wrasse moved to another tank.
During the spawning season from April to August, it made its territorial claims particularly clear to its roommates in this basin, sometimes even using its large, conical front teeth. These are placed in an otherwise rather small mouth with thick lips, which is also referred to by its name. The animals live singly or in pairs in algae growth on rock and scree soils at a depth of two to thirty meters. They often stay near crevices in the rock where they can retreat to sleep or in case of danger.
Another roommate of the spotted wrasse, the rock bass Ctenolabrus rupestris, cannot be immediately identified as a relative of the former, and its name is also rather misleading. But it also belongs to the wrasse family (Labridae). Its external appearance, with its reddish-brown color, an elongated body and a black spot on the tail stalk, is very memorable. It often hides in crevices in the rock, which it leaves much more often in the summer months, so that it is easier to observe than in winter.Another species of wrasse in the Heligoland Aquarium was the cuckoo wrasse Labrus bimaculatus. The males of this species show a fascinating bluish shimmer when exposed to appropriate light. However, the females and young are reddish in color. A special feature of this species – like the spotted wrasse – is a gender change (successive hermaphroditism). The animals are initially female and develop into males between the ages of seven and 13 or four to 14 years. In the cuckoo wrasse, the color changes with gender.
Cuckoo Wrasse Labrus bimaculatus
Photo: E. Hensel
With around 500 species, the wrasse form an extensive family of fish. They are particularly found on rocky coasts, in coral reefs, on harbor moles and shipwrecks in warmer seas, but also with a few species in temperate latitudes such as the North Sea. The colorful wrasse also enriched the tanks of their fish relatives in the Helgoland aquarium.
Author: Dr. Emanuel Hensel