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Sweet lips - The fish do have it too.

  • Writer: Shabbir Baldiwala
    Shabbir Baldiwala
  • Mar 15, 2022
  • 1 min read

Aptly named, these fish have big, fleshy lips and tend to live on coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific in small groups or pairs.


Oriental Sweetlips
Oriental Sweetlips

Harlequin Sweetlips
Harlequin Sweetlips


Painted Sweetlips
Painted Sweetlips

Sweetlips' colouring and patterning changes throughout their lives.


Juvenile sweetlips generally look quite different from the adults, and often live on shallower reef sections. Juveniles may be banded or spotted and usually solitary.


Juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips
Juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips

Typically swims in a twisting motion, head down in a 'drunken' dance, flip flopping all its large fins and tail rapidly from side to side, possibly mimicking poisonous flatworms as a means of predator avoidance.




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