Wrasse or local names Bayan, Bechok.
Not entirely sure I correctly identified this species. If you know it could be something else, please leave the info in the comment box below.
What is so unique about the olive Razorfish is it is the only fish I know that makes a conscience effort to turn its head around and try to bite you in the ass. OK… not ass but bite you in the hand.
I have never seen any other fish do this. It actually reminds me of dogs when you surprise them from behind.
I didn’t actually get a very good video footage of it in the clip below as Pete holds the fish and tries to unhook it for release while I focused the camera on the “action”.
At first look, i thought this is a baby wrasse or parrotfish of some sorts but after checking, it resembles the Xyrichthys evides. If this fish is the olive razorfish, it’s common length is only about 10cm. Nothing huge like what you’d expect a wrasse to grow to be.
We caught lots of them on the sabiki jig while fishing for baitfish off Rompin.
Both jaws of the olive razorfish has several rows of conical teeth with a pair of canine teeth at anterior part, conspicuous when mouth is closed. They are found from southern Japan to the South China Sea.
