Plectorhinchus spp.
- 40 to 70 cmSize
- Year round; look under ledges by dayBest time
- Least Concern (IUCN)Status
What to look for
A deep body, a small head and the big rubbery lips that give the family its name. Diagonal-banded sweetlips are yellow with dark diagonal stripes; oriental sweetlips have horizontal stripes and yellow fins with black spots; brown sweetlips are plainer. Juveniles of several species are small, blotchy and swim with an odd wriggle that mimics a toxic flatworm.
Why they school
Daytime schools are about safety: resting fish are easy prey, and a wall of stripes confuses a hunting trevally. They let divers come close if you drift in slowly rather than swimming straight at the ledge. Cleaner wrasse work the schools, so stay a moment and you will see fish line up for a clean.
Where to see it
- Reef dive · Outer reef Milln ReefMax depth 5-25 m.
- Reef dive · Agincourt Reef Horse ShoeMax depth 20 m.
- Reef dive · Agincourt Reef Phil’s ReefMax depth 16 m.
- Reef dive · Agincourt Reef The GardensMax depth 10 m.
- Reef dive · Agincourt Reef The PointMax depth 25 m.
- Reef dive · Agincourt Reef The WreckMax depth 22 m.
- Reef dive · Agincourt Reef Three SistersMax depth 20 m.
- Reef dive · Agincourt Reef Triggerfish CityMax depth 16 m.
- Reef dive · Agincourt Reef Turtle BommieMax depth 30 m.
Dive with us to see it
You might also see
- Coral troutThe reef’s most handsome predator: bright red with a scatter of blue spots, lurking by the bommies.
- ParrotfishFrom the crunching schools of bumpheads to the sleeping bags of mucus at night, parrotfish are the reef’s builders and gardeners.
- AnemonefishThe clownfish of the reef, living in a sea anemone that would sting anything else. Nearly every site has a family.
