The garish green coloration of Cheilio inermis helps it to camouflage within the seagrass beds, making it normally only spotted by careful observers even though it is quite common.
Details
§ 01
size
Max. 50 cm
color
Usually bright green with lateral stripes, but may be brown, yellow or mottled.
This species is usually located in seagrass beds or thick clusters of algae at depths up to 10 meters. It is usually solitary in nature and feeds mainly on mollusks, hermit crabs, crabs, sea urchins, and shrimp.
distinctive characters
The dorsal fin has nine spines and twelve to fourteen rays, the anal fin has three spines and eleven to twelve rays, the pectoral fin has twelve rays, and the body is slender and elongated, not very compressed, with a snout that is long and a caudal fin that is slightly rounded, with a body depth of five and a half to eight inches in standard length.