Fish of the Thalassoma genus of the Labridae (wrasses) family of the Labroidei suborder of the Perciformes order of the Acanthopterygii superorder.
(Ornate wrasse. Photo by © Simon Brandl. scimonopsis.com)
Ornate wrasse (Thalassoma pavo) was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).
It inhabits the depth of 1-150 meters, usually 1-50 meters. It prefers to swim close to a rocky bottom in sea grass thickets. The maximum recorded length is 25 cm; specimens up to 20 cm long are more common. It feeds on small mollusks and crustaceans.
(Ornate wrasse. Photo by © Daniel Rico Carreto. fotonatura.org)
It is a permanent inhabitant of the Adriatic Sea.
Names of ornate wrasse (Thalassoma pavo) in other languages as follows:
Karkaleci antenëgjatë i gjelbër (Albanian), Pauwlipvis (Dutch), Γαϊτανούρι (Gaitanuri) (Greek), Tawwason hayyam (Hebrew), Verde (Spanish), Donzella pavonina (Italian), Meerpfau (German), Talasoma tęczowa (Polish), Bodião-verde (Portuguese), Павлинья талассома (Pavljinja talassoma) (Russian), Vladika, Vladika albanska (Serbian, Croatian), Pavji knez (Slovenian), Gün (Turkish), Girelle-paon (French).