Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis

[Delphinus]

Sold to me as a "red fairy wrasse." Acquired from Big Al's in November. The more I find out about fairy wrasses and see more of them, the more I love them.

Been wanting to share a photo of this guy forever but he is insanely difficult to get a shot of. He'll make an awesome pose for the camera, but he won't hold it for more than 2 seconds. Unfortunately my digital camera seems to take way more than 2 seconds after depressing the shutter button to think about the exposure and commit to it. Of course by then I'm taking a picture of empty water most of the time. The following shots, as sad as they might be, are the best out of about 50 or 60 attempts. He has really pretty fins when he shows them but you have to be at the right place at the right time to get a picture of them.

Anyhow I am fairly certain that he is Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis. Other common names include "social wrasse," "red parrot fairy wrasse," "dwarf parrot wrasse," and "longfin fairy wrasse."

The second shot below is the closest red that he is in person. It's really neat to see different colours show up though, depending on his mood, or whatever. Some times even his underside is red making him one big crimson spectacle. Other times the blue/green irridescent dots are really prominent. Never dull...