📸 PhotoPhoto: R Vasconcellos · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Humphead wrasse
Cheilinus undulatus (Humphead wrasse · メガネモチノウオ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum length of 229 cm is much longer than a tall adult human (about 1.7 m) (Comparison).
- 💡 Its maximum weight of 191 kg is nearly the weight of ten 20 kg bags of rice (Comparison).
- 💡 FishBase notes that international trade in this species is monitored under CITES Appendix II.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Humphead wrasse is a very large wrasse living on coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to South Africa and the Pacific Ocean.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Known to reach up to 229 cm in body length and 191 kg in weight, it is one of the largest of all coral reef fishes.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds on mollusks, fishes, sea urchins, and crustaceans, and is one of the few predators that eat toxic sea hares, boxfishes, and crown-of-thorns starfishes; it usually lives alone or in pairs.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List EN (2025) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/4592/264488576
- • IUCN Red List category EN — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — TRTD
- • iucnredlist.org — 264488576
- • wikidata.org — Q179377
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Cheilinus undulatus - R Vasconcellos - 582969181.jpeg
- • fishbase.se — Cheilinus-undulatus.html
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Anampses caeruleopunctatus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.