Bicolour parrotfish
Cetoscarus bicolor
Striped Parrotfish
Scarus iseri
About
The striped parrotfish changes so much as it grows that the young and the adult barely look related. It reaches up to 35 cm, though most seen on reefs are closer to 18 cm.
Also known as: sammy johnson
- Length
- 18 cm · max 35 cm
- Depth
- up to 25 m
How to tell it apart
The white stripe on younger fish is the key mark to check, since it stops exactly at the gill opening rather than running further back. Adult males lose the stripes entirely, so match them by their blue-green and orange colouring instead.
Appearance
Younger fish show a white stripe above a darker stripe, ending right at the gill opening, with pale edges on the tail fin. Adult males look completely different: blue-green and orange, with a pink chest and head, a green band below the eye, and median fins with blue borders around broad orange centres marked with thin blue lines.
Did you know?
Unlike many reef parrotfish, the striped parrotfish spends much of its time grazing over seagrass beds rather than coral. Divers are just as likely to spot it hovering over a patch of turtlegrass as over a reef.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
