Tuskfish

ID points

• Upper and lower jaws each carry a pair of protruding blue canine teeth
• Body pieced from blue-green and orange-red, with large coarse scales
• Picks up shells and smashes them against rock to open them

Basics

Family

Labridae

Length

30–90 cm

Depth

3-60 m

Regions

Indo-Pacific reefs

Distribution

Indo-Pacific coral reefs

Habitat

Reef flats and rubble with sand

Diet

Molluscs, crustaceans

Easily confused with

Napoleon WrasseAdults have a large bulging hump on the foreheadHarlequin TuskfishAlternating orange-red and white broad vertical bands, edged in blueBird WrasseExtremely long snout, curved like the beak of a bird

Fun fact

It has been recorded smashing clam shells open against a rock, making it one of the very few fishes known to use tools.

More in this family

• Cleaner Wrasse
• Flasher Wrasse
• Leopard Wrasse
• Moon Wrasse
• Rockmover Wrasse
• Rockmover Wrasse (Juvenile)
• Six-line Wrasse
• Slingjaw Wrasse