Conde's Fairy Wrasse

[Hiroyuki Tanaka]

One of the sought-after species of Cirrhilabrus from South Pacific is the Conde's Fairy Wrasse, Cirrhilabrus condei. It was described with Papua New Guinea specimens by Alln & Randall (1996). Now it is sometimes shipped from the new range Vanuatu.

It was named after Bruno Conde, the late ichthyologist and a long-time editor of the famous journal, Revue francaise d'Aquariologie (of France).

Males have a striking red body, white abdomen and a yellow tail with a red area. They have very long pelvic fins. They exhibit a brilliant coloration while they are displaying as shown below. Then flashing pink areas are quite attractive. Females are entirely red.

 

[Hiroyuki Tanaka]

Two populations of Cirrhilabrus condei. One from Papua New Guinea (these two).

(upper) a male in display in Milne Bay, Papua (photo by Rudie H. Kuiter).

(lower) a male from Papua New Guinea (holotype), photo by Dr. John E. Randall.

Papuan male have a small amount of yellow on the dorsal fin, but males from Vanuatu possess a prominent, large area of yellow dash there. When it displays the yellow almost disappears in Papuan males (upper), but the coloration remains in Vanuatu males. The species is sometimes also called the Blackfin Fairy Wrasse.

 

[Hiroyuki Tanaka]

Cirrhilabrus rubripinnis, Re-fin Fairy Wrasse, male, 7cm.

This is very similar to C. condei but it can be differentiated by having red fins. Also it does not have any black or yellow portion on D fin. C. condei has a white (sometimes slightly bluish, but small amount) throat but in C. rubripinnis throat and chest are always blue.

This species comes from the Philippines and northern Indonesia, and will reach some 8cm long.