Common Name: Kuiters Wrasse

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Western Pacific region: east coast of Australia and New Caledonia.  In Australia recorded from the northern Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea, south to around Sydney in New South Wales.

Ecological Notes: Frequents areas of mixed sand, rubble and algae, reef flats and slopes. Depth to at least 55 m.

Additional Notes: Large blue edged black spot on the operculum, reddish orange background colour with evenly spaced white or blue spot on each scale. Small species usually solitary or in company of other wrasses. Grows to 10 cm. 

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.323.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=macropharyngodon+kuiteri. Accessed 06/06/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Macropharyngodon-kuiteri.html. Accessed 06/06/18.