We all know how difficult it is to identify the sex of these fish, so please post a picture in here and we'll try to help you (or at least give an educated guess!).
IMO number 2 is a female and 3 a male.Now as for number 1 judging by the shape it looks like a male but the absence of long inopercular spines resembles a female.
Well done McEve, three beautiful specimens there . I would say that the top two are female and the bottom one a male. Well worth the 16 hour drive I would say .
I think I have a blind spot i honestly cannot see any noticable difference betweeen all 3 - they all look female...argggghhh im never going to get the hang of this....im going to post up some pics of mine shortly so hopefully i can get some of your expert opinions (i think i have all males)
Jo, look at the cheek odontodes, they're very long on the male, that's why it's easy enough to identify an adult male. It's the younger ones, and the difference between a subdominant male and a female that can be tricky....
Female,
Male, (check out the size where the face curves. if it starts from the pectorial side fin then its a female but this one comes out a bit then curves in just like the third picture)
Male