Red Leopard Wrasse

Guardian: Alina Herrmann

Macropharyngodon choati

Red Leopard Wrasse

Like Parrotfish, the Red Leopard Wrasse has a second set of teeth (or bones) in the back of the throat that crushes food. It eats small crustaceans or planktonic rock plants (foraminafera), swallows them whole and pulverises them, shell and all (try doing that with a prawn at lunch).

At night this fish will bury itself in the sand to avoid getting eaten.