🐠 Coral Hogfish (Bodianus mesothorax)
Marine Not-Reef-Safe Wrasse • Burgundy-Purple Front With Yellow-White Rear • Genuine Juvenile Cleaner Fish Behaviour • Intermediate Marine Fish
 
📋 The Coral Hogfish , also known as the Split-Level Hogfish, Blackbelt Hogfish, or Eclipse Hogfish, has a genuinely striking two-tone body — a burgundy-purple front half meeting a yellow-to-white rear, divided by a bold diagonal black band running from the pectoral fin toward the dorsal fin. Juveniles look genuinely different, appearing burgundy-brown with several bright yellow spots.
Native to a genuinely wide range from the Nicobar Islands eastward to Tonga, north to Japan, and south to eastern Australia and New Caledonia, this species inhabits coral-rich outer reef slopes to depths of around 40 metres.
A genuinely charming behaviour: juveniles are often seen cleaning other fish, picking off parasites, though we want to be honest this is a facultative rather than obligate cleaning behaviour, and typically fades by adulthood. This is a genuinely hardy, characterful species that can be a little shy on introduction before quickly gaining confidence and becoming an outgoing tank presence. We want to be upfront: this species is not reef safe, with mature adults genuinely feeding on snails, worms, mussels, small fish, shrimp, and squid — so a reef tank will effectively become its buffet. It's also genuinely fiercely territorial, and should be the only hogfish, and the only specimen of its kind, in the tank.
 
🟣🟡 Highlights
🎨 Burgundy-Purple Front With Yellow-White Rear: A genuinely striking, classic hogfish pattern
🧽 Genuine Juvenile Cleaner Behaviour: Young fish often pick parasites off other fish
⚠️ Not Reef Safe: Will consume snails, worms, small fish, and crustaceans
💪 Genuinely Hardy & Characterful: Shy at first, becomes a bold, outgoing presence
⚠️ Genuinely Territorial: Keep just one specimen per tank