Terelabrus zonalis is the newest labrid species which is part of an enigmatic group of wrasses called the candy hogfish. With usually bright red and white or yellow stripes, it’s easy to see why they are compared to candy in real life, unfortunately we don’t have such a clear picture of the freshly minted Terelabrus zonalis.
While all the candy hogfish discovered so far are striped from head to tail, the actual ‘striped hogfish’ T. zonalis is named after a series of 18 faint silver vertical bars along the body. Besides that we know the fish is faint yellow overall with a poorly defined brown spot at the edge of the gill plate.
Interestingly, only two specimens of Terelabrus zonalis were collected in the Philippines but there’s no record of collecting depth. However we can safely assume it’s got to be deep like other candy hogfish, perhaps even deeper since we’ve never seen them appear in the ornamental aquarium trade. Pictured in the header image is different new species of candy hogfish, T. dewapyle which was only just recently documented from the Philippines. [ZooTaxa]
