Common Name: Black Leopard Wrasse
Distribution: Common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the eastern Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific region: Andaman Sea and Christmas Island to the Philippines and Samoa, north to Ryukyu Islands, south to northern Australia. In Australia recorded from Shark Bay and Exmouth region in Western Australia, the Coral Sea and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to Montague Island in southern New South Wales and including Lord Howe Island.
Ecological Notes: Frequent offshore lagoon and seaward reef, in areas of mixed sand and coral. Small juveniles carried by currents to areas outside their normal breeding range, adults sometimes in small groups close to the bottom. Depth to at least 25 m.
Additional Notes: Juveniles and females usually seen, with dense covering of fine white spots on black body. Males, top photograph, rare and recognised by the light margined black body scales and the dark edges to the tail lobes. Grows to 12 cm.
References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.324.
Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=macropharyngodon+negrosensis. Accessed 06/06/18.
FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Macropharyngodon-negrosensis.html. Accessed 06/06/18.