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Wild Life
04.22.2022


BEAUTIFUL UGLY

While the Asian sheepshead wrasse’s allure may be debatable, the fish’s
color-changing, sex-changing abilities are hard to disregard.

PHOTOGRAPH BY TONY WU

STORY BY SARAH GILMAN

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Looking at this male Asian sheepshead wrasse, you might not guess that he
started his life as a pouty-lipped orange whip of a baby. You may also be
surprised to learn that he began life as a female.

These beginnings are common to most wrasses, a diverse group of colorful marine
fishes found in temperate and tropical waters. The Asian sheepshead species
(Semicossyphus reticulatus), or kobudai in Japanese, is among the largest of the
group, and makes its home in rocky reefs and wrecks around Japan, Korea, and off
the coast of China. As each individual grows, she begins to change color and
sprout a distinctive hump just above her eyes. If she is among the strongest and
largest of her kind by around 10 years of age, she may begin a months-long
transformation, her chin elongating below her jutting snaggle teeth and her
forehead expanding further as she becomes male. It’s unclear what triggers this
sex change, but for the bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum), at least,
scientists believe it’s caused when the largest local female senses the absence
of the dominant male, which may release a cascade of stress hormones that
initiate her transformation.

“You look at [the sheepshead wrasse] and go, ‘Oh my god, what is this thing!”
says photographer and naturalist Tony Wu, who has described the fish’s
appearance as its “ugly superpower.” “They’re very charismatic, and like a lot
of wrasses and a lot of other big fish, they can be quite interactive.” This
one, which Wu photographed during the spring of 2017 off the Japanese island of
Sado in Niigata Prefecture, had become accustomed to people and swam alongside
Wu as if to say hello. In the Yamagata Prefecture just to the north, another
diver, Yoshifumi Aihoshi, has swum with the same individual wrasse for two
decades.

That’s not to say the fish are friendly with everyone. Male Asian sheepshead
wrasses, which can grow up to 3 feet long and weigh 30 pounds, are territorial,
and fight to control harems of females. Should one bulbous behemoth encounter
another during the breeding season, Wu says, they both “change color
simultaneously, like chameleons”—their white and pink hues intensifying. “When
you’re out there and you see them light up, it’s like seeing a neon sign turn
on.”

The dance of aggression that can follow is simultaneously measured and
mesmerizing. The two males back up, and come together open-mouthed, nearly
touching. Then they back up and come together again, as if they’re screaming
into one another’s throats. Whoever prevails in this repetitive display by
eventually driving the other off with a powerful bite gets to spawn with the
territory’s females, a process that involves the pair swiftly swimming and
swirling from deep underwater to near the surface.

Photographing the wrasse’s steep reverse spawning dive wasn’t an option for Wu.
“Humans should not be shooting from 20 meters up to 5 meters in a few
seconds—you’d die of decompression sickness.” And even when the fish wasn’t
rapidly ascending, the lighting was tricky because the water is so dark and the
fish so light. But after 15 years of planning and working with a friend to
design special equipment, Wu managed to capture this striking portrait of a
fabulous and fascinating fish.

NIIGATA, JAPAN



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TONY WU


Tony Wu combines his love of visual art with his interest in the marine world
through underwater photography. Since 1995, Wu has used his photographs and
writing to encourage others to appreciate and protect the beauty of the oceans.
Most recently, he’s devoted his attention to photographing whales and other
cetaceans, as well as mass spawning aggregations of fish. His images have
received international awards in Japan, Europe, and the US, including Grand
Prize in Japan’s largest marine photo contest and first place in the underwater
category of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.


SARAH GILMAN

Sarah Gilman is a writer, illustrator, and editor who covers the environment,
science, and place from rural Washington state. She's also a contributing editor
at Hakai Magazine. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Audubon, Smithsonian,
High Country News, National Geographic, and others.



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Adaptation Evolution Fish Japan Oceans Reproduction Sex wrasse


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