Stoplight Parrotfish
Sparisoma viride
- Class
- Ray-finned fish
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 4,918
- Most observed in
- 🇧🇶 Caribbean Netherlands
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The stoplight parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a parrotfish from the family Scaridae, inhabiting coral reefs in Florida, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Bermuda and as far south as Brazil. It mainly feeds on algae by scraping and excavating it with its teeth. Like most parrotfish, it is able to change sex. The common name, stoplight, comes from the marked yellow spot near the pectoral fin, which is clearly visible only in specimens in the terminal phase.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Stoplight parrotfish”.