Spinster Wrasse: The Reef's Boldly Marked Sand-Diver

Big for a Halichoeres wrasse and marked with a bold dark bar, the spinster wrasse is an easy one to pick out as it combs the reef edge. Here's how to spot it near Jacó, plus five fun facts.

Spinster Wrasse · Halichoeres nicholsi

How to spot the spinster wrasse near Jacó

Look along rocky reef and nearby sand, where spinster wrasses patrol close to the bottom. Adults are greenish to blue above with a striking dark bar on the side and a yellowish tail; young ones are plainer. They row along steadily with their pectoral fins, nosing into the reef for food.

5 fun facts about the spinster wrasse

• A bold dark bar. A strong dark band across the midbody makes the adult spinster wrasse easy to tell from its relatives.
• Dives into the sand to sleep. Like other Halichoeres wrasses, it burrows into the sandy bottom at night to hide from predators.
• Big for its family. It grows larger than most of the small wrasses it swims among on the reef.
• A reef-edge forager. It hunts snails, crabs and other small invertebrates along the rock-and-sand boundary.
• An Eastern Pacific native. It lives only along the Pacific coast of the Americas, a common rocky-reef resident.

The spinster wrasse is just one of many characters down there. See the whole cast in our Snorkel Jaco fish directory, or read real guest photos and reviews on the Snorkel Jaco reviews.