Madeira Canary Islands Azores – Fishes Dr. Peter Wirtz

Mediterranean wrasse (Symphodus mediterraneus)
Up to 20 cm long. Madeira, Canary Islands, Azores. 2 – 50 m depth.
A dark spot at the base of the tail. A yellow ring around the dark base of the pectoral fins. Territorial males
are red (photo below), females and non-territorial males reddish brown. The Mediterranean wrasse can reach
an age of 8 years. Photo Peter Wirtz.
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Rainbow wrasse (Coris julis)
Up to 20 cm long. Madeira, Canary Islands, Azores. 1 – 150 m depth.
Rainbow wrasses have three sexes! Juveniles (small photo) either grow into females (lower photo) or so-
called “primary males” that look like females but produce sperm. Some of the females later in life change sex
and turn into so-called “secondary males” that are much larger and more colourful (upper photo). Secondary
males are also called supermales. During the reproductive season (the whole summer), they defend territories
of 200 to 800 sqm and do not tolerate other secondary males in them. They continuously swim through the
territory with conspicuous wavelike movements. The brightly coloured beginning of the dorsal fin is fully
displayed like a flag. When a female is ready to spawn it swims a bit upwards into open water. Immediately
the large male joins it closely and both quickly swim up one to three meters. At the highest point, they eject
eggs and sperm, which are visible for a few moments as a milky cloud. The fertilized eggs drift away in the
current. So what about the primary males, the third sex? Primary males can reproduce only in a parasitic way:
they rush towards spawning pairs of supermales and females and eject sperm close to them! Occasionally not
only one but two to four primary males attempt to profit from the spawning of a supermale with a female. As
females never spawn with primary males, primary males are entirely dependent on spawning supermales to