Novaculini

There is some uncertainty as to whether the novaculine wrasses are the sister group to the cigar wrasse (Cheilio inermis) or to the Juan Fernández wrasse (Malapterus reticulatus). Molecular phylogenetics consistently finds Novaculichthys to be the sister group to the rest of the tribe.^[1][2]

Taxonomy of the group has traditionally been hindered by the problem that outwardly, some species can only be distinguished from each other by their colour patterns, which often do not persist in preserved specimens. Moreover in live specimens, males, females, and juveniles within the same species can vary greatly in appearance, and it is unknown what some of these growth stages look like in certain species.^[3] This has become less of a problem with the advent of molecular phylogenetics,^[2] but even so, these fish are difficult to find, and even more difficult to capture, limiting the study of this unusual group of wrasses.^[3]