Princess Parrotfish

The Princess Parrotfish (Scarus taeniopterus) is a common Caribbean parrotfish that, like others in its family, has a beak of fused teeth for scraping algae from coral rock. It shows two colour phases: initial-phase fish are brown with pale horizontal stripes, while terminal-phase males are blue-green with striking orange and blue bands across the face and yellow-bordered fins. Parrotfish are vital reef grazers, controlling algae and producing sand as they rasp at reef substrate. The Princess Parrotfish is a familiar sight over Caribbean reefs.

Identify Princess Parrotfish by phase:

• Terminal males: blue-green body with orange and blue stripes across the face and a yellow-and-blue-edged tail.
• Initial phase: brownish with two or three pale horizontal stripes.
• Parrot-like fused beak and typical oval parrotfish body, ~20-35 cm.

The striped face of terminal males distinguishes it from the similar Striped and Queen Parrotfish.

Princess Parrotfish inhabit coral reefs, reef flats, and seagrass margins from the shallows to about 25 m throughout the western Atlantic and Caribbean. They favour clear-water reef zones with abundant algal turf on hard substrate, and range over the reef by day while grazing.

Princess Parrotfish graze algae from reef rock and dead coral throughout the day, scraping the surface with their beaks and grinding the material with pharyngeal teeth, which produces fine sand. They form loose groups, often mixed with other parrotfish. At night they shelter in crevices, and some parrotfish secrete a mucus cocoon while sleeping. They are protogynous hermaphrodites, with terminal males defending and spawning with harems of females.