Cirrhilabrus earlei, earl’s fairy wrasse, is a very beautiful labrid which is primarily found in and around Palau, well outside of the normal marine ornamental collection areas and therefore extremely rare in the trade. Earl’s fairy wrasse was only discovered and described in the last decade so not many people know about this species yet, but that didn’t stop the fairy wrasse enthusiast Jim Gryczanowski from getting him some.
It’s important to note that Jim had to get more than one Earl’s fairy wrasse to elicit this kind of flashing behavior from Earl’s fairy wrasse, because the subdominant female stimulates the male into the nuptial, flashing coloration depicted in the video. To our knowledge, the incredible flashing coloration of Cirrhilabrus earlei has never been documented to this degree, and we thank Jim for sharing his love of fairy wrasses through this awesome video.
