Bicolour parrotfish
Cetoscarus bicolor
Mediterranean Parrotfish
Sparisoma cretense
About
The Mediterranean parrotfish is one of the few parrotfish found outside tropical waters, grazing rocky reefs of the Mediterranean and nearby Atlantic coasts. It grows up to 50 cm, usually around 30 cm.
Also known as: parrotfish, parrot fish, vieja colorada, pez loro
- Length
- 30 cm · max 50 cm
- Depth
- up to 50 m
How to tell it apart
Its red body with a pale saddle patch on the back marks out the female; the plain grey male is harder to place by colour alone, so look for the throat and gill-cover bars, since this is the only common parrotfish in Mediterranean and nearby Atlantic waters.
Appearance
Adult females are red with a grey, yellow-edged saddle-shaped patch on the back and a yellow spot at the base of the tail. Adult males are plain grey overall with paler undersides and often dark bars on the throat and gill cover. Young fish are mottled brown or yellowish and lack these adult colours, and any fish can flash broad white horizontal stripes when stressed.
Behaviour
It feeds mainly on algae growing on rock and coralline surfaces, using jaws specially built for scraping, and is active by day. It breeds mostly from July to September, spawning around dawn or dusk in pairs or small groups, and the eggs drift and hatch before the young settle on rocky reefs.
Did you know?
Unlike most parrotfish, which all start life as female and later switch to male, some females of this species never change sex at all and stay female for life.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
