Pteragogus turdus是从西澳大利亚州印度洋和西太平洋发现的一种新的偷偷摸摸的斗篷，为这种容易被忽视的礁鱼属增添了第十一种。与大多数其他物种的唇木不同，偷偷摸摸的扭曲是所谓的，因为它们通常穿着隐秘的色彩和图案，与诸如harlequin tusk之类的相反的相反，帮助他们与自然礁的首选栖息地融合在一起。
Most species ofPteragogus是莫特led red or sometimes green with few distinguishing markers to help casual aquarists or divers tell them apart and it’s precisely this anti-bombastic appearance which probably helped to conceal the distinctiveness of P. turdus. Some identifying features of other species of sneaky wrasses include a prominent ocellus on the gill cover, elongated dorsal fin spines, light white horizontal or vertical bars and The Turd wrasse dabbles in some of these details.
The dark brown gill spot is well outlined in a very thin yellow border on males, females and juveniles but only the large mature males develop four very prominent elongated dorsal fin spines. Pteragogus turdus seems to be one of the smaller species in the genus with the maximum size documented from a sample of 65 specimens topped out at 81mm or around three inches but we suspect the larger males were more cautious and better equipped to evade collection. [Ichthyological Research]
