bluefish
Halichoeres radiatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Halichoeres radiatus puddingwife wrasse fish
Brian.gratwicke · CC BY 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The puddingwife wrasse, Halichoeres radiatus, is a species of wrasse native to the western Atlantic Ocean from North Carolina to Bermuda, through the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, to offshore islands of Brazil, being absent from Brazilian coastal waters. It can be found on reefs at depths from 2 to 55 m (6.6 to 180.4 ft), with younger fish up to subadults being found in much shallower waters from 1 to 5 m (3.3 to 16.4 ft). This species can reach 51 cm (20 in) in total length, though most do not exceed 40 cm (16 in). This species is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries and can be found in the aquarium trade.
Wikipedia contributors, Puddingwife wrasse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:31:42.015907+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Halichoeres radiatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- bluefish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Family
- Labridae
- Genus
- Halichoeres
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- familyLabridae Cuvier, 1816
- subfamilyJulidinae Bonaparte, 1841
- genusHalichoeres Rüppell, 1835
- speciesHalichoeres radiatus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Halichoeres. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| mangrove wrasseHalichoeres aestuaricola Bussing, 1972 | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| greenband wrasseHalichoeres bathyphilus (Beebe & Tee-Van, 1932) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Halichoeres bicolor (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| slippery dickHalichoeres bivittatus (Bloch, 1791) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| wounded wrasseHalichoeres chierchiae Di Caporiacco, 1948 | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Halichoeres chlorocephalus Kuiter & Randall, 1995 | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Halichoeres chloropterus (Bloch, 1791) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Halichoeres chrysotaenia (Bleeker, 1853) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Halichoeres claudia Randall & Rocha, 2009 | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| yellowcheek wrasseHalichoeres cyanocephalus (Bloch, 1791) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Halichoeres discolor Bussing, 1983 | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| chameleon wrasseHalichoeres dispilus (Günther, 1864) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Julis crotaphus Cuvier, 1829 Cuvier, 1829 | synonym |
| Julis opalina Valenciennes, 1839 Valenciennes, 1839 | synonym |
| Julis cyanostigma Valenciennes, 1839 Valenciennes, 1839 | synonym |
| Iridio elegans Bean, 1906 Bean, 1906 | synonym |
| Labrus radiatus Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Halichoeres irideus torquatus Parr, 1930 Parr, 1930 | synonym |
| Julis patatus Valenciennes, 1839 Valenciennes, 1839 | synonym |
| Iridio radiatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=275793 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3JBTX. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.