Marshall Islands Parrotfish (Scaridae)

Parrotfish are a conspicuous and important element of many coral reefs, including those at Kwajalein. They are large, often colorful and in great numbers graze on algae-covered rocks and, more rarely, on live coral itself. Some genera, such as Cetoscarus and Chlorurus, bite more deeply into the reef, taking not only the algae covering but also a layer of the calcium carbonate substrate. It has been suggested that these bites open up bare spots suitable for settlement of coral larvae and therefore may be important in maintaining the diversity and health of a coral reef. Parrots scraping up rock with their bites also makes them important bioeroders, as well as producing a large amount of fine sand that may collect in and fill the lagoon. Like their relatives the wrasses, parrotfish may change from female to male later in life, and will usually go through several color forms in their development from juvenile to female to terminal male. Juveniles may have several different color forms, and often develop into an initial phase color form that in some species may be either female or male. Females and initial phase males may, if they survive long enough, transition to another color form as terminal phase males. The many different color forms have often been given different names in the past, and some uncertainty still exists when trying to properly identify some younger specimens by color. There is no guarantee that those we show here are all correct. There are a couple more species known from the Marshalls we have yet to photograph.

Bolbometapon muricatum	Calotomus carolinus	Cetoscarus ocellatus terminal male
Cetoscarus ocellatus initial phase	Cetoscarus ocellatus juvenile	Chlorurus bleekeri terminal male
Chlorurus bleekeri initial phase	Chlorurus frontalis	Chlorurus japanensis
Chlorurus microrhinos terminal male	Chlorurus microrhinos small juvenile	Chlorurus spilurus terminal male
Chlorurus spilurus initial phase	Chlorurus spilurus older juvenile	Hipposcarus longiceps terminal male
Hipposcarus longiceps juvenile	Scarus altipinnis terminal male	Scarus altipinnis juvenile
Scarus dimidiatus terminal male	Scarus festivus terminal male	Scarus flavipectoralis terminal male
Scarus flavipectoralis initial phase	Scarus forsteni terminal male	Scarus forsteni initial phase
Scarus forsteni juvenile	Scarus frenatus terminal male	Scarus frenatus initial phase
Scarus fuscocaudalis terminal male	Scarus fuscocaudalis initial phase	Scarus ghobban initial phase
Scarus globiceps terminal male	Scarus niger terminal male	Scarus niger juvenile
Scarus oviceps terminal male	Scarus oviceps initial phase	Scarus oviceps juvenile
Scarus psittacus terminal male	Scarus psittacus early male?	Scarus rivulatus
Scarus rubroviolaceus terminal male	Scarus rubroviolaceus initial phase	Scarus rubroviolaceus juvenile
Scarus schlegeli terminal male	Scarus schlegeli initial phase	Scarus spinus terminal male
Scarus xanthopleura terminal male	Scarus xanthopleura initial phase