Cena the Supermale

When Cena the humphead wrasse arrived at the National Aquarium in December 2012, she weighed merely ounces, measured less than 3 inches in length and was a gray-brown color. Fast forward to present day, and Cena weighs an impressive 12 pounds, measures nearly 2 feet in length, and her gray-brown coloration has been replaced with brilliant hues of blues and greens and striking patterns. These dramatic changes can be attributed to a big transition that Cena is undergoing: though she was born as a female, she's now in the process of changing sexes and becoming a supermale.

Humphead wrasses like Cena can be born male or female. A humphead wrasse born a male will always be a male, but when female humpheads reach adulthood—around 5 to 7 years old—they can turn into a supermale. In Cena's case, this began when the other humphead wrasse in Blacktip Reef, Tang, passed away in 2016. According to our resident wrasse enthusiast and Senior Assistant Dive Safety Officer Jackie Cooper, fish typically change gender to fill some sort of niche in the environment. Since Tang was a male and we have no other humphead wrasses in the exhibit, Cena likely began to transition to a supermale to fill that ecological void. According to Jackie, if Tang would have stayed in the exhibit, Cena would've remained a female.

The dramatic change in size and coloration are indications to our staff that Cena is transitioning, but there's no way to know exactly when the process will be complete. Staff started to notice changes over the past year, and her new blue and green coloration has become increasingly bold in recent months. When secondary sex characteristics—such as the large hump for which the species is known—are present, staff will consider Cena's transition complete.

This transition from one sex to another isn't unusual in the fish world. All wrasses, including humpheads, can undergo this process; mostly, these fish start as female and then change to male, like Cena. But there are many other fish, such as clownfish and damselfish, that typically transition from male to female. There are even fish known as simultaneous hermaphrodites—like the hamlet fish found in our Atlantic Coral Reef exhibit—that are male and female at the same time.

"These fish are so beautiful and so intelligent—they're just magnificent animals." -Jackie Cooper, Senior Assistant Dive Safety Officer

These stunning fish are found throughout the Indo-Pacific in coral reef habitats and can live to be 30 years old. Supermale humphead wrasses can tip the scales about 420 pounds and reach a maximum length of 7.5 feet—although it's more typical for them to be about 4 to 5 feet long. Humphead wrasses are distinguished by their large lips, which they can extend out when they feed to snatch up their prey or use to blow streams of water on the ocean floor to uncover their next meal. While they typically feed on fish, clams and crabs, the humphead wrasse is one of the only known species to eat toxic animals like the crown-of-thorns starfish and boxfish, which are undesired predators on coral reefs.

Less than 1% of wrasses in the ocean are supermales. In their natural habitats, the role of a supermale is to control an entire area of a coral reef and mate with all the females in that location.

As magnificent as they are, humphead wrasses face dire threats in their natural habitats. In the last 30 years, 50% of their population has disappeared, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists these fish as endangered. This is mostly due to fishing pressure—humphead wrasses are highly desirable in the live reef fish trade—and habitat loss. We can support the conservation of these amazing animals by supporting marine protected areas in the Indo-Pacific, which are key to their long-term survival.

We're proud to have Cena as an ambassador animal in Blacktip Reef to educate our guests about the threats fish like humphead wrasses face—and to inspire them to care for the ocean we all rely on.