Steephead Parrotfish Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Large-bodied parrotfish, among the biggest on Indo-Pacific reefs, reaching over 70 cm
• Terminal males show a very steep, near-vertical forehead profile, giving a "bulldog" or squared-off head shape unlike most other parrotfish
• Blue-green overall body color with a pink to orange band or stripe near the eye and gill area
• Initial phase is brownish-gray with a less steep forehead and more uniform, muted coloring, and tends to school more than solitary terminal males
• Fused beak with pale to bluish teeth plates and thick lips, used to scrape algae and encrusting organisms from hard reef substrate

Common look-alikes

• Bumphead parrotfish is much larger with an even more exaggerated bony forehead hump and lacks the pink cheek stripe
• Ember (redlip) parrotfish shares the blue-green coloring but has a less abrupt, more gently sloping forehead

Where you'll see one

Found on outer reef slopes and channels of the Indo-Pacific, usually alone or in small groups in deeper, current-swept areas where it grazes on reef substrate, sometimes venturing into shallower reef flats to feed.