Thalassoma duperrey
A green and purple wrasse with an orange saddle, logged year-round across Hawaii reefs in 24-26C water. Here's where to find it.
Look for a slim, torpedo-shaped fish around 19 cm with a green body, a purple-blue head, and a bright orange-yellow band saddled across the middle of its back, giving it the common name. It swims with quick, darting bursts low over the reef rather than cruising open water, and the colour combination is distinctive enough that little else on an Hawaiian reef gets mistaken for it. Juveniles and initial-phase fish show a duller, more uniform brownish-olive tone before developing the saddle and head colouring as they mature.
Expect to see it darting around coral heads and rubble patches in shallow water, picking at small invertebrates as it goes rather than holding still for photos. It is generally unbothered by divers and snorkellers, often continuing its business a metre or two away, and it tends to stay active through the day rather than showing a strong dawn or dusk pattern.
It is one of the most abundant reef fish in Hawaii and, like many wrasses, changes both colour and sex over its life, with some individuals shifting from female to male as they mature into the more vividly saddled terminal phase.
Sightings show no clear seasonal pattern, and with water sitting comfortably in the 24 to 26C range most of the year on Hawaiian reefs, this wrasse is a year-round encounter rather than a seasonal target.
This one is essentially a Hawaii speciality: it turns up reliably across reef sites throughout the islands, with Hawaii as the overwhelmingly dominant region in diver logs. If you are diving anywhere in Hawaiian waters, from shallow shore dives to reef drop-offs, this is one of the fish you can expect to see on most outings.
Mapping where Saddle Wrasse is logged…
It is found almost exclusively in Hawaiian waters, showing up as a common sighting at reef sites right across the islands rather than being tied to one specific spot.
There is no strong season for this species. Water temperatures stay in a narrow 24 to 26C band year-round on Hawaiian reefs, so it is a reliable sighting on any dive regardless of month.
Check for a green body, a purple-blue head, and an orange-yellow band across the back like a saddle. It swims in short darting bursts close to the reef rather than in open water.
They typically reach around 19 cm in length, making them a small to mid-sized reef fish that is easy to spot against coral but not a large presence in the water.
Yes, it is one of Hawaii's signature reef fish, and diver records show it logged almost entirely within Hawaiian waters rather than elsewhere in the Pacific.
No, they pose no threat to divers or snorkellers. They are small, curious reef fish that will often approach rather than flee.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
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