“ The cook wrasse offers an instance of well-marked secondary sexual difference—the male being ornamented with blue streaks or a blackish band along the side of the body, whilst the female has two or three large black spots across the back of the tail. ”

“ Many wrasses are readily recognized by their thick lips, the inside of which is sometimes curiously folded, a peculiarity which has given to them the German name of “lip-fishes.” The dentition of their jaws consists of strong conical teeth, of which some in front, and often one at the hinder end of the upper jaw, are larger than the others. ”

“ But the principal organs with which they crush shellfish, crustaceans and other hard substances are the solid and strongly-toothed pharyngeal bones, of which the lower are coalesced into a single flat triangular plate. All wrasses are surface fishes, and rocky parts of the coast overgrown with seaweed are their favourite haunts in the temperate, and coral-reefs in the tropical seas. Some 450 species of wrasses (including parrot-wrasses) are known, chiefly from the tropics. ”