Fish of The Week

Last Update : Sunday 25 November, 2001 9:02 PM




		Illust : Anuwat Saisaen

Napoleon fish or Mauri Wrasse



Scientific name	Cheilinus undulatus
Common name	Napoleon fish or Mauri Wrasse
Size	2 meters
Dispersion	Andaman Sea. In the Gulf of Thailand, seen in the aquarium
Area found	Rock piles, coral reef at Surin and Similan Islands
Depth	3 – 30 meters
Feed on	Animals like Crown of thorn, star fish, sea urchin, sea shell
Situation	Difficult to find. Living in the same locale.
Conservation	Should be registered as rare fish a long time ago.
Fish Tip	Should be admired when seeing, especially the one that is longer than 1 meter…satisfying!

           Napoleon fish is one of the giants of the Thai Sea. In the past, people used to argue if he exists in the Thai Sea. During the past 4 – 5 years, diving has become more and more popular. There has been a finding report from various places like Gao Island, Nueng Island in Similan Islands. Torinla Island in Surin Islands. I met him at Surin and Similan. But Surin was a sight to remember.

           I was swimming beside Torinla Island then. The water was shallow, about 4 – 5 meters deep. I was about to go up, looking outside I saw dark shadow swimming by. I had known that there was Napoleon there. But I only saw not a very large one from a distance. But this time they came in a group of 9, large and small. The small one was longer than 50 centimeters. The mother with lumpy forehead was 1.50 meters long, swimming on the outside before swooping in toward me and swimming away.

           Was I excited? Well, it was a good feeling. But I had been diving in the Great Barrier Reef for four years. I had met plenty of them, even a larger one. So, it was so…so. But frogmen in the same dive who had never met this fish before were so excited, chatting together on the boat without stopping.

           Napoleon fish is the wrasse in Family Labridae. Some people sub-classify into group Cheilinae. However, he is the largest wrasse with the size even longer than 2 meters. He is found in Indean Ocean and some part of Indo-Pacific area like Australia, New Guinea. Normally, this fish lives in the reef with clear and deep water like Great Barrier Reef.

           Since Thailand has very few coral reef of this type, it is, therefore, difficult to find him. We can only find him around the outer islands far from the shore. There has been no report from the nearer islands. Problem of Napoleon fish in foreign countries was the high price if caught for food. Indonesia has a lot of this problem. There are boats driving from one island to another collecting the caught fish and export to Hong Kong. Normally, they have to be caught alive. The dead one has no price.

           As for Thailand, we have too less Napoleon fish for this kind of fishing activity. Even if we can, I do not think we should do it because Napoleon fish is the population controller of many kinds of animals like ดาวหนาม, sea urchin etc. They also are most valuable for tourism.

           Would you like to spend two or three thousand bahts and swimming with a fish of 2.3 meters long?

           Several people in the world would say yes!

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