Whitepatch razorfish

Appearance

Size: Up to 9 in. (24 cm)
Depth: 20-250 ft. (6-75 m)

Naming

Other names: pale razorfish, white-blotch razor wrasse, yellowblotch razorfish

Synonym(s):
Novacula aneitensis Günther, 1862
Novacula aneitensis Günther, 1862
Xyrichthys anaitensis (Günther, 1862)
Xyrichthys anaitensis (Günther, 1862)
Xyrichtys aneitensis (Günther, 1862)
Xyrichtys aneitensis (Günther, 1862)

Distribution

This species is found in the Indo-Pacific from Zanzibar to the Hawaiian Islands. In the Indian Ocean it is found from Zanzibar, Mauritius, Maldive Is, and Chagos Archipelago. In the western Pacific, it is found north to the Ryukyus, eastwards to Hawaii, and south to Lord Howe Island, Australia (Randall and Earle 2002).

Habitat

This species lives on open, clean, sandy areas of lagoon and seaward slopes (Lieske and Myers 1994). In Hawaii, it is widely distributed in suitable sandy habitat, it is more common in depths of about 15 m in aggregations (Randall and Earle 2002).