Wednesday June 25, 2025
Mongabay —
Among the many spectacular reef fishes swimming the Indo-Pacific corals, from Africa to Oceania, is the big-eyed, bulge-faced, thick-lipped, blue-green humphead wrasse, also known as the Napoleon wrasse. It’s among the world’s largest reef fish, sought for its flavor and coveted as a status symbol meal in high-end Chinese cuisine.
Overfishing remains the biggest threat to the species, Cheilinus undulatus, whose conservation status was assessed as vulnerable in 1996 on the IUCN Red List, and worsened to endangered in 2004. Juvenile and young adult humphead wrasses are sold alive to restaurants across Hong Kong and mainland China, as well as to expatriate Chinese communities around the world. Customers choose the fish for their meal from the wrasse swimming in large tanks, much like U.S. restaurant-goers choose a lobster for dinner.
The humphead wrasse is extremely valuable: each fish can fetch up to $850. While there is a legal trade in the species, the high market value has also led to a booming illegal trade. Permits that allow shops and restaurants to keep legally caught wrasse are often misused to launder illegally traded fish, as there has been no way to identify individuals. Indonesia is the leading exporter of humphead wrasse.