Description
A very interesting colourful fish showing changes throughout its life both in gender and colours.
Habitat
Mainly found in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Regions, found mostly around rocky shores with plenty of algae or eel-grass areas for feeding on its favourite prey!
Feeding
Usually feeding on mollusks and crustaceans. The juveniles of the species are often found cleaning other fish at cleaning stations around natural or man made reefs or wrecks.
Life History
Usually solitary or in small groups this uniquely beautiful fish is protogynous, that is it begins its life as a female and becomes male at a later time during its life while with the sex change also comes a change in coloration! They spawn in spring and the eggs and thereafter larvae are pelagic.
Sightings
Sea Caves, Cavo Greko (Ayia Napa & Protaras)
Cyclop’s Cave, Cavo Greko (Ayia Napa & Protaras)
(Chance of encounter Red > 0.8 Yellow > 0.2)
Very happy to see your distribution map for Thalassoma pavo (what is the source?).
Official sites such as fishbase and Worms got its distribution quite wrong, they mention the Western meds only while it is very abundant in the Turkish coastal waters and Greek coastal waters too.
We got the map off of fishbase.org but for another fish which satisfied data and local knowledge better and used that instead of the official Thalassoma Pavo distribution source 🙂 As always for the site…WE are the source 😉