Big Fish
Napoleon (Humphead) Wrasse
Cheilinus undulatus · Bony fish, family Labridae
Every great Indo-Pacific reef has its Napoleon, and divers learn them by name. The fish is unmistakable: a wardrobe-sized wrasse in chalkboard green scribbled with maze lines, thick lips set in permanent diplomacy, the adult's forehead hump rising like a bicorne hat. It ambles rather than swims, pausing to crunch an urchin or turn a heavy eye on the dive group. Old individuals at Blue Corner or Shark Reef treat humans as familiar furniture. The species pays for that trusting bulk: prized as a luxury live-reef food fish, it has been stripped from much of Southeast Asia, and the big tame residents of protected reefs are now among its safest populations.
Dónde y cuándo ver uno
"Residente" significa que la mayoría de las inmersiones en ese destino tienen encuentros con ellos; "estacional" significa que su presencia es fiable en los meses indicados; cualquier otra cosa es un extra, no algo con lo que contar.
| Destino | Fiabilidad | Meses | Notas |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharm El Sheikh & Ras MohammedEgypt | Resident: seen on most dives | Todo el año | |
| PalauPalau | Resident: seen on most dives | Todo el año | |
| Sipadan & MabulMalaysia | Resident: seen on most dives | Todo el año | |
| Cairns & the Ribbon ReefsAustralia | Resident: seen on most dives | Todo el año | |
| North & South Malé AtollsMaldives | Resident: seen on most dives | Todo el año |
El mejor mes, de un vistazo
Comprendiéndolos
Hábitat: Outer reef slopes, channels, and lagoon passes; sleeps in caves and returns to favored ranges for decades
Rango: Indo-Pacific coral reefs from the Red Sea and East Africa through Southeast Asia and Micronesia to the central Pacific
Comportamiento: A slow-cruising reef monarch, usually solitary, patrolling with pectoral-fin rowing strokes and an air of proprietorship. Naturally wary where fished; at protected sites like Ras Mohammed and Palau's channels, individuals become famously tame, inspecting divers eye to eye. Born mostly female, with dominant animals changing sex to male.
Dieta: Mollusks, crustaceans, urchins, and toxic prey few others touch, crown-of-thorns starfish and boxfish included
Tamaño: normalmente alrededor de 1.2 m; documentado hasta 2.0 m (total length; the largest wrasse, with old males approaching 200 kg).
Cómo comportarse cerca de uno
No feeding (it distorted behavior badly at several famous sites), no touching, and let a curious fish make the approach. Report obviously missing 'resident' Napoleons to operators; they are individually known.
Conservación
Endangered and CITES-listed; the live reef-fish trade drove collapses across Southeast Asia, and enforcement plus site protection now underpin the strongholds divers visit.
Puntos conocidos por avistamientos
Los puntos destacados fueron registrados para esta especie por nuestros editores; los números son registros de ocurrencia de GBIF anotados en un radio de unos 5 km de un punto desde 1990.
Ver
Desde los canales oficiales
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Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
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