- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Actinopterygii
- Order: Perciformes
- Family: Scaridae
- Bolbometopon
- Calotomus
- Cetoscarus
- Chlorurus
- Cryptotomus
- Hipposcarus
- Leptoscarus
- Nicholsina
- Scarus
- Sparisoma
| Parrotfish |
|---|
|
| Scientific Classification |
|
| Genera |
|
Parrotfish are a taxonomic Family of marine fish perhaps best known for their brilliant colors.
In the Yellowfin Parrotfish, the female is gray to brown with a paler abdomen and a white stripe, while its pectoral fin is yellow with a black spot at the bottom. The males are lavender anteriorly with a green posterior.[1] He also has a blue-green stipe going down his snout of the pectoral fin. They can grow up to 30 cm long and are found in the Western Pacific coral reef.
The parrotfish spawn all year. The parrotfish have two strategies for mating, first they are all born female then change into a male later on, which is know as protogynous hermaphroditism.[2] When they are ready to mate the males claim the females because they are more dominant. When they are little the females don't have any trouble finding a mate because when the female turn into males they mate before they change so when they are older the males become supermales when they reproduce.
Midnight parrotfish are blue and black with light blue scales on their heads. They can reach up to 77 cm in length and their weight can be 7kg.[3] The parrotfish have teeth that are blue-green, all parrotfish have teeth on the outside of their jaw that make up their beak. The midnight parrotfish feeds on algae from coral, using their beaks to crack open the coral. By eating the algae they keep their ecosystem balanced which prevents algae overload. They can also distribute sand near coral and rocky substates. The midnight parrotfin can be found 5-75 m deep in tropical waters in the Caribbean and in the western Atlantic from Bermuda to Florida and south to Brazil.
Bicolour parrotfish
Longnose Parrotfish
Steephead Parrotfish
Stoplight Parrotfish - Terminal Phase
|
||||||||||||||||||||
