surge wrasse
Thalassoma purpureum (Forsskål, 1775)
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.
(EN) Surge wrasse - (FR) Labre de houle Thalassoma purpureum terminal phase Taha'a, French Polynesia
Francois Libert · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The surge wrasse (Thalassoma purpureum), also known as the green-blocked wrasse, purple wrasse or red and green wrasse, is a species of wrasse native to the southeast Atlantic Ocean through the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where it inhabits reefs and rocky coastlines in areas of heavy wave action at depths from the surface to 10 m (33 ft). This species is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries, is popular as a game fish, and can be found in the aquarium trade.
Wikipedia contributors, Surge wrasse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:58:39.338941+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Thalassoma purpureum (Forsskål, 1775)
- Name authority
- (Forsskål, 1775)
- Common name
- surge wrasse
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Family
- Labridae
- Genus
- Thalassoma
- 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
- genusThalassoma Swainson, 1839
- speciesThalassoma purpureum (Forsskål, 1775)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Thalassoma. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| bluntheaded wrasseThalassoma amblycephalum (Bleeker, 1856) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Thalassoma ascensionis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1834) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| blueheadThalassoma bifasciatum (Bloch, 1791) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Thalassoma genivittatum (Valenciennes, 1839) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| sunset wrasseThalassoma grammaticum Gilbert, 1890 | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Thalassoma hardwicke (Bennett, 1830) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| goldbar wrasseThalassoma hebraicum (Lacepède, 1801) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Thalassoma heiseri Randall & Edwards, 1984 | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Thalassoma jansenii (Bleeker, 1856) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cortez rainbow wrasseThalassoma lucasanum (Gill, 1862) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Thalassoma lutescens (Lay & Bennett, 1839) | LabridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Thalassoma noronhanum (Boulenger, 1890) | 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 umbrostygma Rüppell, 1835 Rüppell, 1835 | synonym |
| Thalassoma purpurea (Forsskål, 1775) (Forsskål, 1775) | synonym |
| Thalassoma semicaeruleus (Rüppell, 1835) (Rüppell, 1835) | synonym |
| Thalassoma semicoeruleus (Rüppell, 1835) (Rüppell, 1835) | synonym |
| Thalassoma umbrostigma (Rüppell, 1835) (Rüppell, 1835) | synonym |
| Julis semicoeruleus Rüppell, 1835 Rüppell, 1835 | synonym |
| Scarus purpureus Forsskål, 1775 Forsskål, 1775 | ambiguous synonym |
| Thalassoma purpurem (Forsskål, 1775) (Forsskål, 1775) | synonym |
| Thalassoma umbrostygma (Rüppell, 1835) (Rüppell, 1835) | 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=212213 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:55ZP5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.