Fish
Clown Coris
Coris aygula
A boldly patterned Indo-Pacific wrasse that transforms dramatically with age, the small clown-marked juveniles maturing into large, dark, hump-headed males.
Also known as hogfish, nar- coris
- Habitat
- Reefs and adjacent sand and rubble
The clown coris is a large wrasse famous for changing utterly as it grows. Juveniles are pale and vividly marked, while adults become dark and heavy-bodied, and dominant males develop a bulging forehead and sombre colouring quite unlike their youthful selves.
A reef-associated fish of the Indo-Pacific, it uses strong canine teeth to crush hard-shelled prey such as molluscs and crustaceans dug from sand and rubble around the reef.