Among
the commercially significant species, the parrotfishes (Scaridae)
are probably the most abundant in the lagoons of atolls. These
fishes whose size can reach 60 cm for some species, are
characterized by teeth which form as a beak with which they
scrape the rocks to feed on small algae.
The
colors of the parrotfishes can be iridescent, with splendid blues
and greens, but the majority of them are gray or maroon. The color
of these fishes can be related to their sex, but also locates them
in the group: thus only the dominant males and some large
females have beautiful colours. These species live in harems
dominated by a male accompanied by secondary males. When it
happens the death
of the dominating male, one of the secondary males
takes its place.
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However, as for much of fish
species, the sex is not given with the birth and the females while
growing can become male. For the same species it can thus exist a
whole range of colour, what makes the identification often
difficult, even for specialists. The Polynesian names of these fish
reflect this difficulty, all the parrots of small size being called pitika.
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The
majority of the parrotfishes live in plurispecific shoals which
often move according to the tide. To high tide these fishes come
and graze on the reef platforms and to downward tide they go down
again on the reef slopes.
| All the parrotfishes are typically diurnal. The
night these fish rest in anfractuosities of the reef. They sometimes are
envelopped by a gangue from mucus which protects them parasites and perhaps the predatory ones. |
The
parrotfishes have a relatively fast growth and a significant
recruitment so they are relatively not
very sensitive to fishing. The species of big size (Scarus
microrhinos, Hipposcarus longiceps, Cetoscarus bicolor) are
however vulnerable because less abundant and more required.
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