Beautifully stripped and colourful reef fish often found in the shallows of rocky beaches. Like most wrasse, females display different colouration to youngers and males, often more brown and green rather than blue and orange. Male corkwing wrasse are master nest builders, using up to ten different species of seaweed to decorate them. These beautiful animals are also put to work as lice cleaners in Scottish salmon farms!
Like the other wrasse species they have two pairs of jaws, one in their mouth and the other in their throat this aids in physical digestion as they do not possess a stomach. They are "agastric" fish.
They also show interesting nest building behaviours, in the spring and summer months the males can be seen building the nest trying to impress the females.
