Cuckoo wrasse (male) Labrus mixtus Long snouted wrasse with compressed slender body. Long based dorsal fin, with 16 to 19 anterior spines, and 11 to 14 branched rays at the posterior. The shorter anal fin has 3 spines followed by 9 to 12 branched rays. The lateral line has 45 to 48 scales, with 7 or 8 scales behind the eyes. Dentition consists of one row of cannine teeth. Colouration varies with age and sex. Mature males have bright blue heads and sides, and into the first of the dorsal fins. The blue edging of the other fins also tends to be greater, when compared with that of the female, or immature males. The colouration of the matrure males head, tends to be replaced by white, during the mating session. This photograph was taken in loch leven at the Slates near Glencoe.

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Picture by John Nicolson