Marbled parrotfish
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 Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
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| Leptoscarus vaigiensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824) |
The marbled parrotfish, Leptoscarus vaigiensis, is a species of parrotfish, the only member of the genus Leptoscarus, found on reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the Red Sea in the west to New Zealand in the east, and north to Japan.
The marbled parrotfish has a typical wrasse shape, with large scales and a blunt snout, and like all true parrotfish has the teeth fused to form a parrot-like beak ideal for chopping off pieces of seaweed and coral on which it feeds. Unlike other parrotfishes, males and females look very similar and do not change sex.
Coloration of the body and fins is a mottled pattern of orange, brown, and olive-green, superficially similar to that of initial phase New Zealand banded wrasse, Notolabrus fucicola.
[edit] References
- "Leptoscarus vaigiensis". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. March 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8
