Spanish hogfish


The Spanish hogfish, Bodianus rufus, is a species of wrasse native to the western Atlantic Ocean, where it can be found from southern Florida and Bermuda through the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico to southern Brazil. It inhabits coral or rock reefs at depths of. While the adults feed on such prey as molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms, the juveniles act as cleaner fishes. This species can reach a length of, though most do not exceed. This species is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries and can be found in the aquarium trade. When Marcus Elieser Bloch named the genus Bodianus he used Bodianus bodianus as the type species of the genus, this is a junior synonym of Bodianus rufus.