WHATSTHATFISH
Bony fish

Redtail Parrotfish

Sparisoma chrysopterum

Also known as: Blisterside, Blue Black-finned Chub, Blue Parrotfish, Kwab, Pink Kwab, Pink Parrot, Pink Parrotfish

LCLeast ConcernIUCN Red List, 2012
Adult
@JolineCuracao · Curaçao - Playa Kalki, Curaçao · December 20201 / 18
01

Overview

Found singly or in schools, foraging for food, or resting on the bottom, blending in with the background, over seagrass beds and weedy areas, of coral and rocky reefs, rich in algae growth. Adults can rapidly change to a mottled pattern, to blend in with their surroundings.

Parrotfish are hermaphrodites and live in harems with a dominant male. They are not territorial, living and feeding in harmony with other species.
Their teeth are fused into powerful beaks which are used for grabbing filamentous algae from dead coral, often found feeding in a cloud of sediment.
At night parrotfish make a sleeping bag out of slime bubbles for protection against predators.
These beautiful fish whose males usually outshine the females for colour also change dramatically from juvenile to adult.

02

How to identify

03

Habitat & where to find it

  • Range · Western Atlantic, Caribbean
  • Country only · 18
LIVES IN

Found singly or in schools, foraging for food, or resting on the bottom, blending in with the background, over seagrass beds and weedy areas, of coral and rocky reefs, rich in algae growth.

04

Adult photos 18

05

Discussion

Comments are checked by a moderator before they appear.

No comments yet. Seen one, or got a question about it? Start the discussion.

    ALL STAGES
    FOR THE MARINE-BIOLOGY CURIOUS

    Deep dive

    Taxonomy

    1. familyScaridae
    2. genusSparisoma
    3. speciesSparisoma chrysopterum (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

    SourcesWoRMSFishBase

    06

    More in the family

    Parrotfishes (Scaridae)