ID this wrasse

Picked this guy up yesterday. I'm pretty sure he's in an intermediate stage, but not sure!

He was labeled as a purple fairy wrasse. I think I may have figured out what he is - I'm guessing juvi/intermediate blue sided/blue head fairy wrasse. But I could be totally wrong!

Any ideas? (cell pics, not the best. And he's fast!)










His face is hot pink, then he goes into purple/blue, then into khaki/olive green, then into yellowy orange.

 

Exquisite Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus exquisitus) ?

 

or maybe Bluestripe Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus cf temminckii)

hard to tell

 

Here's the bluestripe fairy wrasse:




What do you all think?


But mine seems to have more yellow towards his back end and more hot pink on his face...and more orange on his dorsal fin...

He also doesn't have any horizontal stripes, which when I Google image, most of these seem to have.

Ugh - this is hard!

 

Alright, after doing some more research I do not think he is a blue striped.

 

Kc, have you tried shooting a PM to evolved? He might be your best bet on the ID.

 

Haha I did alert him to this thread Hoping he'll chime in soon.

 

Oh boy; you've definitely brought a challenging one here.

Purple fairy wrasse? Heh. Might as well have been labeled "WTH is this fairy wrasse".
Agree; whatever it is, it's female or just beginning to transition.

Crossed my mind for a second, but no. It would have a tail-spot if it was.

Hard to tell indeed. But, first, I don't believe in cf temminckii; I think those are just temminckii. Anyways, it's not that. Whomever was selling it would know if it was that, as those are endemic to the cooler waters of Japan. Regardless, there wouldn't be the pink just above the white belly.

Agree.

Hi.


Here's my best guess: a female Cirrhilabrus cyanopleura. There's an Indonesian variant of this species which looks very close to what you have here.

That being said, it might also be possible this is a female Cirrhilabrus solorensis just beginning to transition, but I do not think that's the case. The coloration is just a bit off. Time will tell if this is the case; it'll become quite obvious.

Thanks for starting my day off on a fun note.

 

lol you gotta love a good old wrasse ID

 

YAY! You stopped by for a visit

I knew when I was at the store and Googled purple fairy wrasse that I was in trouble here. I got back 1 result, from someone else asking because their LFS labeled it a purple fairy wrasse. HA

I thought I would easily figure this out once I got home and could look at fairy wrasse pics. But I was wrong! No idea.

Hey! Maybe I was right with the blue sided. The coloration patterns are what made me suspicious, though obviously my one's coloring is way toned down compared to the images on the net.

It will be interesting to watch this one change (if she/he does!) and into what.

Thanks for the help!