Humphead maori wrasse are one of the largest reef fish in the world. They are often territorial and sometimes have a ‘home’ cavern, crevice or lagoon in the reef area. The reef provides not only shelter but a food source.

Humphead maori wrasse mainly eat during the day and can be seen feasting on shellfish, fish, starfish, sea urchins and crabs. The bones near the throat (pharyngeal bones) act as a second set of teeth that crush, grind and assist in the food processing.

Usually they live by themselves but are sometimes seen in pairs. At spawning time a large number of maori wrasse can be seen together. These wrasse are ‘protogynous hermaphrodites’ which means they start their adult life as females and change to become males when they are older. Little is known about this or how it happens but it is believed that not all females become males and not all males started as females.

Humphead maori wrasse are very wary of other animals in the wild, but in marine parks where fish are protected they often become tame and can be touched by divers.

Not much is known about how long humphead maori wrasse live but it is believed they can be 25 years or older. These are the only wrasse known to grow over 2 metres in length. One humphead maori wrasse was recorded to be 2.29metres in length and weight a massive 191 kilos!

Scientific and other names
Humphead maori wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) are also known as humphead wrasse, maori wrasse, Napoleon wrasse, giant wrasse, humphead parrot fish and the double-headed wrasse.

What they look like
Adults are olive to blue-green in colour. They have vertical lines along their body, irregular lines on the head with two black lines extending backwards from the eye. Juveniles are paler in colour with darker lines.

Adults develop a large hump on the head above and extending forward of the eye. Adults also develop thick fleshy lips.

Where they live
Humphead maori wrasse live around coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific region. The adults prefer to move around the steep outer slopes of the reef or in gutters, channel slopes and sometimes in lagoons. These areas provide shelter, food and their preferred water depth of 2 - 60 metres. In Australia these fish are found in WA and Queensland. In Western Australia they are found only from the offshore reefs of the Rowley Shoals, Scott reef, Seringapatam reef, Ashmore reef and Cartier island.