Barred hamlet
Hypoplectrus puella
(Cuvier, 1828)
Description:
Body laterally flattened, pale white to yellowish with six brown body bars (the first of which runs through the eye, the second broad at nape narrowing towards the insertion of the ventral fin, the third very wide, the fourth to sixth as wide as the second and evenly spaced behind the third bar (H. puella)). Blue lines over the head and body. Ventral fins vary in color from white to yellowish (H. puella 2), pectoral fins clear. Sometimes with a black saddle blotch on the base of the tail.
Size up to 15 cm.
Habitat:
Common Florida and Bahamas, abundant Caribbean.
Distribution:
Occasional Florida and Bahamas, common Caribbean.
Remarks:
Some ichthyologists consider all hamlets to be variations of the Butter hamlet (Hypoplectrus unicolor).