---
title: "Harlequin Sweetlips"
description: "Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides — Fish. Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides, the harlequin sweetlips, clown sweetlips, spotted sweetlips or many-spotted sweetlips, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the subfamily Plectorhinchinae, one of two subfamilies in the family Haemulidae, the grunts."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/harlequin-sweetlips
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Harlequin Sweetlips

> Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides — Fish. Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides, the harlequin sweetlips, clown sweetlips, spotted sweetlips or many-spotted sweetlips, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the subfamily Plectorhinchinae, one of two subfamilies in the family Haemulidae, the grunts.

- Scientific name: *Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 2723
- Wikidata: [Q1825750](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1825750)
- iNaturalist taxon: [122002](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/122002)

## Names

- en: Harlequin Sweetlips
- de: Harlekin-Süßlippe
- es: Bakoko arlequín
- fr: Gaterin harlequin
- nl: Harlekijnvis
- pt: Peixe-arlequim-gracioso

## Countries with the most observations

ID (600), PH (365), NC (197), AU (196), MY (122), PW (101), FJ (96), TH (82), MV (72), SG (39), SB (30), PG (26)

## Summary

Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides, the harlequin sweetlips, clown sweetlips, spotted sweetlips or many-spotted sweetlips, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sweetlips belonging to the subfamily Plectorhinchinae, one of two subfamilies in the family Haemulidae, the grunts. It is native to the Indo-Pacific region. This species is of minor importance to local commercial fisheries and can be found in the aquarium trade.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plectorhinchus_chaetodonoides

## Photo

![Harlequin Sweetlips](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/harlequin-sweetlips/medium.jpg)

Photo: Richard Fuller · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/48857216

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/harlequin-sweetlips?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).