PARROTFISH
The parrotfish utilizes it's strong beak-like jaws to obtain it's food from the coral reef. Although it's main diet is algae and seaweed, the parrotfish has been known to literally eat the coral reef. They are very sociable during the day, however, when night falls the fish seperate from the school and search for dwellings in the coral where they form a coccon of mucus. The cocoon serves as protection from nocturnal predators.
Order : Perciformes
Family : Scaridae
Genus : Scarus
Average Length : From 8 inches to 3 feet
Diet : Algae living on the reef and Coral Polyps
Lifespan : 5 Years
Food, Feeding and Hunting : The parrotfish's main prdatorial development is it's bird-loke beak which it utilizes to scrap algae that is located between living and dead coral. The parrotfish feeds by swimming head down and scrapping off the algae as it glides through the water. The parrotfish also bites off large portions of the coral, which it grinds up with specialized teeth. Although it is uncertain whether the parrotfish does this to eat the coral polyps or to extract algae .
Breeding : As many other reef fish, the parrotfish changes sex throughout it's lifecycle. When they reach sexual maturity parrotfish lay eggs, however, as they grow older, they develop into males. The transformation is marked and evident by a colorized transformation in which the light female turns into a dark male. A second physical feature which singles out some species is that the male develops large, bulging foreheads. The reason for the uprupt sex change is that many of the fish die young. Therefore, when many females release their eggs there are few males to fertilize them. The eggs are then carried off, whether they were fertilized or not, away from the reef into the sea.
Distribution : Parrotfish are spread throughout many parts of the world including the Atlantic, Carribean, Indian and Pacific oceans.Such tropical waters provide rich reefs which become excellent feeding and breeding grounds.
Conservation : The survival of the Parrotfish species depends on the conservation of the reefs in which they dwell. Due to that they inhabit areas where man's greedy ambitions are disturbing the environment some species are being damaged.
Did You Know . . . . .
- Parrotfish can often be noticed because they raise clouds of dust as they devour coral.
- Parrotfish rely on the sun to navigate.
- Divers swimming by reefs may hear parrotfish because of the noise they make while eating.
- At night the parrotfish school breaks up and each enters it's own crevice to sleep.
