FaunaHub
ENEndangeredPartial review

Humphead Wrasse

Cheilinus undulatus

Humphead (Napoleon) wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), a huge reef fish with a forehead bump.

Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), Red Sea.

Image: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

At a glance

IUCN category
EN · Endangered
Animal group
Fish
Population trend
Decreasing
Last verified

Conservation overview

The humphead (Napoleon) wrasse is one of the largest reef fish, with thick lips and a prominent forehead bump in adults. It is assessed as Endangered.

It can change sex and lives a long time, so it recovers slowly.

Range & habitat

Coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific.

Major threats

Threats below are drawn from the authoritative sources listed on this page. For the current, complete assessment, see the IUCN Red List.

  • Overfishing for the live-reef-food-fish trade
  • Cyanide and destructive fishing
  • A slow reproductive rate

Why it matters

A huge, long-lived reef fish prized in the luxury seafood trade, the humphead wrasse is a flagship for sustainable reef-fish management in the Indo-Pacific.

Also called the Napoleon wrasse; a large, slow-growing reef fish.

Gallery

A humphead wrasse on a reef.

Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus).

Image: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sources

Sources for Humphead Wrasse

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the humphead wrasse so vulnerable to fishing?
It grows large, matures late, lives a long time, and can change sex, so heavy fishing — especially for the luxury live-reef-fish trade — removes big breeders faster than they can be replaced.
Why is the humphead wrasse Endangered?
Published assessments cite overfishing for the live-reef-food-fish trade, destructive fishing methods, and its slow reproduction. See the IUCN Red List.

Last updated: