Ornate wrasse

In the clear light of a shallow drop-off, between the rock and the dark patches of posidonia, an ornate wrasse crosses the scene with short accelerations. It does not dart like a seabream, it pulses: the pectoral fins beat, and the lyre-shaped tail barely corrects its trajectory.

At first glance, one thinks they have found a mere flash of color. Then the fish turns, and the scene becomes stranger. This attire is not just a costume: it tells of a place within the group. Some wrasses wear the initial livery, yellow-green, barred with blue, featuring a dark spot on the back. Others, the terminal males, display a more uniform body and that blue and red band cutting across behind the head.

In this species, the sexual history is not fixed: individuals can be born male or females, some males remain initial, others become terminal, and some females can also become terminal males.

Underwater, the diver therefore sees not only a bright color; they encounter a living hierarchy, a fish whose appearance can tell its sex, stage, and sometimes social status.

Then, when the light fades, this flamboyant presence can vanish in an instant: the ornate wrasse is capable of burying itself in the sand, as if the sea were packing away its colors before nightfall.