Red-eye Wrasse, Cirrhilabrus solorensis Bleeker 1853

Other Names: Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse, Redheaded Fairy Wrasse, Solon Fairy Wrasse, Solor Wrasse, Tricolor Fairy Wrasse

Summary:

A metallic blue fairy wrasse with a bright yellowish to orange snout, bright red on the nape, a broad dark bluish band along the back, a yellowish underside and a dark bar at the pectoral-fin base. The eye is bright red (hence the common name) and males usually have a broad dark bluish bar along the edge of the gill cover.
The Red-eye Wrasse is only known in the Australian EEZ from the territory of Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2024, Cirrhilabrus solorensis in Fishes of Australia, accessed 18 Jun 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/4929

Red-eye Wrasse, Cirrhilabrus solorensis Bleeker 1853

More Info

Distribution	Darwin and reefs in the Timor Sea, Northern Territory; also Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the species occurs in Indonesia and Timor Leste. Inhabits shallow patch reefs with exposed rubble, at depths between 5–35 m. The species often occurs on low lying reefs replete with hard coral cover, ducking into the coral matrix when approached.
Biology	Individuals occur in small harems comprising a male and several females, including juveniles.
Etymology	The species is named solorensis after the type locality, Lawajong, Solor Island, Indonesia.
Species Citation	Cirrhilabrus solorensis Bleeker 1853, Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië 5: 88. Type locality: Lawajong, Solor Island, Indonesia.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2024
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Red-eye Wrasse, Cirrhilabrus solorensis Bleeker 1853

References

Allen, G.R. 2000. Description of a new wrasse (Pisces: Labridae: Cirrhilabrus) from northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Aqua J. Ichthyol. Aquat. Biol. 4(2): 45-50.

Allen, G.R., Drew, J. & Barber, P. 2008. Cirrhilabrus beauperryi a new wrasse (Pisces: Labridae) from Melanesia. aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology 14(3): 129-140.

Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.

Allen, G.R., Erdmann, M.V. & Dailami, M. 2015. Cirrhilabrus marinda, a new species of wrasse (Pisces: Labridae) from eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu. Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation 15: 1-15.

Allen, G.R. & Kuiter, R.H. 1999. Descriptions of two new wrasses of the genus Cirrhilabrus (Labridae) from Indonesia. aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology 3(4): 133-140.

Bleeker, P. 1853. Bijdrage tot de kennis der ichthyologische fauna van Solor. Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch Indië 5: 67-96 See ref at BHL

Kuiter, R.H. & T. Tonozuka. 2001. Pictorial guide to Indonesian reef fishes. Part 2. Fusiliers - Dragonets, Caesionidae - Callionymidae, pp. 304-622. Zoonetics, Australia. (as Cirrhilabrus cf solorensis and C. solorensis)

Rocha, L. & Suharti, S. 2010. Cirrhilabrus solorensis. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 22 February 2014.

Tea, Y.-K., Allen, G.R. & Dailami, M. 2021. Redescription of Cirrhilabrus solorensis Bleeker, with description of two species of fairy wrasses (Teleostei: Labridae: Cirrhilabrus). Ichthyology & Herpetology 109: 669–684. https://doi.org/10.1643/i2021022

Tea, Y.-K., Xu, X., DiBattista, J.D., Lo, N., Cowman, P.W. & Ho, S.Y.W. 2021. Phylogenomic analysis of concatenated ultraconserved elements reveals the recent evolutionary radiation of the fairy wrasses (Teleostei: Labridae: Cirrhilabrus). Systematic Biology 71(1): 1-12 https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syab012

Walsh, F. 2014. Cirrhilabrus squirei, a new wrasse (Perciformes; Labridae) from the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea, Australia. aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology 20(3): 123-130.

Walsh, F. & Tanaka, H. 2012. Cirrhilabrus nahackyi, a new wrasse (Perciformes; Labridae) from the South Pacific. aqua, International Journal of Ichthyology 18(1): 1-8.