The queen parrotfish (''Scarus vetula'') is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

, a

parrotfish Parrotfish (named for their mouths, which resemble a parrot's beak) are a clade of fish placed in the tribe Scarini of the wrasse family (Labridae). Traditionally treated as their own family (Scaridae), genetic studies have found them to be dee ...

, in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Scaridae. It is found on reefs in the tropical West Atlantic Ocean and the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. Other common names include blownose, blue chub, blue parrotfish, blueman, joblin crow parrot, moontail, okra peji and slimy head. The young males and adult female queen parrotfish are a reddish-brown color, and quite different in appearance from the bluish-green color of the final phase male. This is a common species throughout its range and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has rated its conservation status as "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

Description

Adult queen parrotfishes are heavy-bodied fish with fusiform (spindle-shaped) bodies and beak-like mouths, growing to a length of about . They have two different color phases. Among smaller fish, the sexes are similar but nearly all individuals are female, being reddish-brown or grayish-brown with a paler head and a white lateral stripe low on each flank, and that remains the color scheme for females even when they grow larger. At an average length of , females change sex to become males. The larger males move on to a new color phase, becoming pale bluish-green, with blue spots near the mouth, yellowish streaks between the mouth and eye, and pale blue bars on the pectoral fins.

Distribution and habitat

The queen parrotfish is native to the tropical West Atlantic Ocean, the

and the southern

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. It is found on both rocky and coral reefs at depths down to about .

Ecology

Queen parrotfish is a

protogynous hermaphrodite Sequential hermaphroditism (called dichogamy in botany) is one of the two types of hermaphroditism, the other type being simultaneous hermaphroditism. It occurs when the organism's sex changes at some point in its life. A sequential hermaphrodite ...

and are often found in small groups of four or five, consisting of one final-phase male and several first-phase individuals, probably females. During courtship, the male constantly circles a female. When she accepts his advances she joins him and they circle together, both simultaneously releasing

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...

into the sea. After fertilisation, the eggs hatch and the developing larvae form part of the

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

. The queen parrotfish feeds primarily on the algal turf it can scrape off surfaces, and

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

from coral reefs, but may also eat

sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...

s and other encrusting organisms as it feeds. In the process, it swallows a lot of mineral particles which are deposited on the seabed as fine sand. It is a diurnal fish, and rests on the seabed or hides in a crevice at night, immersed in a layer of

mucus Mucus (, ) is a slippery aqueous secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is typically produced from cells found in mucous glands, although it may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both Serous fluid, serous and muc ...

that it exudes and which may help to disguise it from

predators Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...

. It is preyed on by

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

grouper Groupers are a diverse group of marine ray-finned fish in the family Epinephelidae, in the order Perciformes. Groupers were long considered a subfamily of the seabasses in Serranidae, but are now treated as distinct. Not all members of this f ...

s and

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s. Parrotfishes are known for the

bioerosion Bioerosion describes the breakdown of hard ocean substrates – and less often terrestrial substrates – by living organisms. Marine bioerosion can be caused by mollusks, polychaete worms, phoronids, sponges, crustaceans, echinoids, ...

that they cause. The stoplight parrotfish (''Sparisoma viride'') is an "excavator" and degrades the surface of coral colonies, but ''Scarus vetula'' is a "scraper", causing erosion of carbonate materials from corals but to a lesser extent than ''S. viride''. Both species have robust jaws with crenelated margins and strong jaw muscles, and large individuals of ''S. vetula'' can do considerable damage to corals as they scrape off their food.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2701369 Queen parrotfish Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of the Dominican Republic Fish described in 1801 Taxa named by Marcus Elieser Bloch Taxa named by Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider