Species Type:
Fishes
Common Name(s):
Princess parrotfish
Size:
Princess parrotfish can grow up to 1 foot long (0.31 meters).
Diet:
Parrotfish are herbivores. They feed on algae by using their parrot-like beaks to scrape the algae off of corals and other rocky substrates. They use pharygeal (throat) teeth to grind and rock they ingest into sand.
Range & Habitat:
Princess parrotfish can be found near shallow, clear reefs and seagrass beds in the waters surrounding Florida and throughout the Caribbean Sea.
Details:
Adult princess parrotfish are mostly blue, with a patch of bright yellow near their pectoral fins. Their dorsal fins have a stripe of aqua and orange, with an orange stripe on the top and bottom edges of the caudal fin. As juveniles, princess parrotfish are much less colorful, as they are pale with three dark brown stripes and a dark tail fin.
Princess parrotfish hatch as females and change to males once they reach a certain maturity.