Spotty (fish)

The spotty or paketi is a species of wrasse endemic to the waters around New Zealand, including Stewart Island and the surrounding areas. It can be found on reefs at depths from, though most common in shallower parts of that range. This species can reach in standard length.

Names

In English, Notolabrus celidotus is commonly known as the paketi or the spotty. In the indigenous Māori language, it is known as paketi or pākirikiri.

Biology

Like other wrasses, spotties begin life as females. Once they reach a length of 13–19 cm at the age of 3–4 years, some of the largest fish may turn into males. Male spotties stake out territories in which they maintain a harem of roughly 20 females that they aggressively defend from other males. When a male dies, the dominant female in the harem will change sex over a few days and take over control of both the harem and territory. This social structure keeps the sex ratio strongly biased towards females. Spawning usually occurs from late July to the end of October.