Castelnau's Wrasse lives in seagrass or algae beds, where it usually pokes its head out cautiously, on the lookout for predators. Females are a greenish colour with dark vertical bars, and males are a dark brown with a white or green horizontal stripe and vertical bars. It is similar to juveniles of other wrasse species, but is recognisable for the starburst of dark dashes radiating from its eyes.
