Plectorhinchus

Sweetlips Temporal range: Miocene to Present
Harlequin sweetlips, Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Haemulidae
Species
See text.
Synonyms
Sweetlips

Plectorhinchus, the sweetlips, is a genus in the family Haemulidae, with 35 species found in fresh, brackish and salt waters. These fish have big, fleshy lips and tend to live on coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific in small groups or pairs. They will often associate with other fishes of similar species; several species of sweetlips sometimes swim together. They are usually seen in clusters in nooks and crannies or under overhangs. At nightfall, they venture from their shelters to seek out their bottom-dwelling invertebrate prey, such as bristleworms, shrimps and small crabs.

Sweetlips' colouring and patterning changes throughout their lives. Adult ribboned sweetlips (Plectorhinchus polytaenia) develop increasing stripes with age. Juvenile sweetlips generally look quite different from the adults, and often live solitary lives on shallower reef sections than those where the adults are found. Juveniles may be banded or spotted and are usually a completely different colour from the adult. Small juveniles have a strange, undulating way of swimming, possibly mimicking poisonous flatworms as a means of camouflage.

The Juvenile of Striped Sweetlips ( Plectorhinchus lessonii ) found in Long-Dong Bay, one of the famous diving site located at northeast coast, TAIWAN

Species

• Plectorhinchus albovittatus (Rüppell, 1838), two-striped sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus celebicus Bleeker, 1873, Celebes sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus ceylonensis (Smith, 1956), Sri Lanka sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides Lacepède, 1801, harlequin sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus chrysotaenia (Bleeker, 1855), yellow-striped sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus chubbi (Regan, 1919), dusky rubberlip
• Plectorhinchus cinctus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843), crescent sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus diagrammus (Linnaeus, 1758), striped sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus faetela (Forsskål, 1775)
• Plectorhinchus flavomaculatus (Cuvier, 1830), lemon sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus gaterinoides(Smith, 1962), lined sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus gaterinus (Forsskål, 1775), blackspotted rubberlip
• Plectorhinchus gibbosus (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1853), Harry hotlips or brown sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus harrawayi (Smith, 1952)
• Plectorhinchus lessonii (Cuvier, 1830), Lesson's thicklip
• Plectorhinchus lineatus (Linnaeus, 1758), yellowbanded sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus macrolepis (Boulenger, 1899), biglip grunt
• Plectorhinchus macrospilus Satapoomin & Randall, 2000
• Plectorhinchus mediterraneus (Guichenot, 1850), rubberlip grunt
• Plectorhinchus multivittatus (Macleay, 1878), many-lined sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus nigrus (Cuvier, 1830)
• Plectorhinchus obscurus (Günther, 1872), giant sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus orientalis (Bloch, 1793), Oriental sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus paulayi Steindachner, 1895, zebra sweetlip
• Plectorhinchus pictus (Tortonese, 1936), trout sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus picus (Cuvier, 1830), painted sweetlip
• Plectorhinchus plagiodesmus Fowler, 1935, barred rubberlip
• Plectorhinchus playfairi (Pellegrin, 1914), whitebarred rubberlip
• Plectorhinchus polytaenia (Bleeker, 1852), ribboned sweetlips
• Plectorhinchus punctatissimus (Playfair, 1868)
• Plectorhinchus schotaf (Forsskål, 1775), minstrel sweetlip
• Plectorhinchus sordidus (Klunzinger, 1870), sordid rubberlip
• Plectorhinchus umbrinus (Klunzinger, 1870)
• Plectorhinchus unicolor (Macleay, 1883)
• Plectorhinchus vittatus (Linnaeus, 1758), Oriental sweetlips

External links

• Genus Plectorhinchus. FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. February 2007 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2007.