Slippery Dick (North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher)

Slippery Dick

Halichoeres bivittatus

Summary ⁴

The slippery dick, Halichoeres bivittatus, is a species of wrasse native to shallow, tropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean.

General description ⁵

Description: Body relatively thin, narrow and long with a large eye and a terminal, small mouth. Pectoral fins medium, reach to vent. Pelvic fins very short. Dorsal and anal-fin bases long, caudal peduncle short and relatively wide. Melanophores limited to the fin-ray membranes, typically occurring in five groups: at the front, mid, and rear dorsal fin and the front and rear anal fin. Each melanophore group covers from one to five fin spines or rays. Series of transitional larvae show development of the eye from vertically oval (and tilted backward) to round (round in many larvae captured over the reef). Transitional recruits of H. bivittatus have a mid-dorsal fin ocellus and a mid-lateral body stripe extending directly rearward from the eye, present even in the earliest transitional stages. Transitional recruits on the reef commonly show remnants of the larval melanophores on the fin membranes.

Halichoeres bivittatus larva