Painted sweetlips
Diagramma pictum
Sweetlips
sweetlips
About
Sweetlips are reef fish with big, fleshy lips, often seen resting in small groups under overhangs. In this app the group includes the Painted Sweetlips, the Biglip Grunt, and the Rubberlip Grunt.
How to tell it apart
Big, fleshy lips are the clearest mark of this group. Juveniles look very different from adults and swim with an odd, wavy motion, so check adult colour pattern and body shape to be sure, since young fish can be confused with other species.
Appearance
Sweetlips have thick, fleshy lips and a deep body. Colour and pattern change a lot as they grow: juveniles are often banded or spotted in a completely different colour from the plainer adults.
Did you know?
Young sweetlips swim with a strange, wavy, undulating motion that may copy the swimming of poisonous flatworms, helping them avoid being eaten.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.