Fairy wrasse ID?

[ACBlinky]

Hello, this is my first post here. I posted on nano-reefs.com with a question about my wrasse and yoshiod9 suggested I ask here - he says Matt Wandell is a walking fish encyclopedia

I bought my fairy wrasse without knowing what species she was - the store wasn't sure, and I wasn't too concerned, I figured I could find out fairly easily. Once I started trying to ID her, I found it wasn't as simple as I thought! I've found some pictures of Cirrhilabrus lubbocki that seem to perfectly match my fish, but then I've seen other pictures of the same species that aren't even close. If anyone can confirm her species (or his, I'm just assuming this is female colouration), I'd appreciate it

Here she is - sorry for the lousy quality, she's super speedy and hard to catch on film!

 

[Anonymous]

I do believe that is the Lubbocks fairy wrasse, as you suspected. Cirrhilabrus lubbocki shows a little bit of variation in coloration individual to individual.


Let's see what Matt has to say though.

Welcome to the site!

 

[Len]

:welcome:

I think it's a C.lubbocki as well

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, Len is the wrasse expert!

You may have seen some pics of C. flavidorsalis that look pretty close to that too, but yeah, looks like a C. lubbocki.

 

[Anonymous]

:lol: I think it's pretty no matter what it's called!

 

[ACBlinky]

Thank you all for the welcome and the replies! I'm assuming she's a female, but another member over at reefcentral was told by the LFS employee when she bought her C. lubbocki that he's a male, and he apparantly looks just like my fish. I've been Googling my brains out, and found several pics of males that are pink, and some that are predominantly a bright blue, but honestly it's difficult to find good, complete information on these guys!
Here's a link http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fishes/wrasses/cirrhilabrus/ to wetwebmedia.com 's article on fairy wrasses - it's a bit confusing to me, as there is a picture of a bright blue wild Lubbock's male, then one below that's a captive male with colouration similar to mine only brighter.
One more question for the wrasse expert(s)... can I still call her Gwynnie, or is my girl really a boy?
Thanks again

 

[Len]

Your specimen looks like a male. For the genus Cirrhilabrus, males are often the more coloful of the two sexes (and the differences are usually very dramatic). C.lubbocki comes in all shades of colors and probably the second most variable-looking species in the genus behind C.cyanopleura.

 

[ACBlinky]

Thanks Len, much appreciated. I'm glad to know there's some really knowledgeable people here and happy to have an answer
Now that I know, I'm going to have to change his name and stop calling him 'pretty girl' every time I pass the tank!