Thalassoma purpureum (Forsskål in Niebuhr 1775)

Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, Zootaxa 4588 (1), pp. 1-360 : 239

Thalassoma purpureum (Forsskål in Niebuhr 1775) —Surge wrasse

Status at New Ireland. New record, based on a specimen observed at Nusa Island, Kavieng District , 1–27 m depth, St. T 8, on 1 Nov. 2006, by Gerald R. Allen.

Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 2.—General distribution: Red Sea, East Africa, Madagascar and Mascarenes east to Hawaiian Islands, Marquesas Islands and Easter Island, north to southern Japan and Ogasawara Islands, south to New Caledonia, Lord Howe Island and Kermadec Islands. Found in the surge zone of reef flats and rocky coasts, 0–5 m depth. Marine.