cigar wrasse
Cheilio inermis (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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The cigar wrasse, Cheilio inermis, is a species of wrasse native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean. They are usually about 10cm in length, with some rare reports of cigar wrasses growing to be 50 cm. They have a long cylindrical, eel-like body shape referred to as anguilliform and have elongated dorsal and anal fins. They are often seen off the coast of Australia, the eastern seaboard of Africa, and India. They are primarily observed in, and occupy, reef habitats. Their coloration can vary widely to include yellow, brown, white, black, red, and stripes of all colors. Juvenile cigar wrasses have the same coloration as adults, but tend to have more pronounced stripes. It is unknown whether there is a difference in appearance between the female and the male.
This species is very understudied with only a few papers documenting their life history, distribution, and biology.
Wikipedia contributors, Cigar wrasse; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:57:01.869743+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Cheilio inermis (Forsskål, 1775)
- Name authority
- (Forsskål, 1775)
- Common name
- cigar wrasse
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Family
- Labridae
- Genus
- Cheilio
- 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
- subfamilyCheilioninae Bleeker, 1862
- genusCheilio Lacepède, 1802
- speciesCheilio inermis (Forsskål, 1775)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
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=218948 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:TRTQ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.