Marbled parrotfish

Marbled parrotfish
Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Scaridae
Genus: Leptoscarus
Swainson, 1839
Species: L. vaigiensis
Binomial name
Leptoscarus vaigiensis
(Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)

The marbled parrotfish or seagrass parrotfish (Leptoscarus vaigiensis) is a species of parrotfish, the only member of the genus Leptoscarus. It is found in coastal regions with seagrass, ranging from the Red Sea in west to Easter Island in east, and Japan in north to New Zealand and South Africa in south.[1] Its distribution is largely antiequatorial (i.e., found in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, but rare or absent near the Equator). It reaches a maximum length of 35 cm (14 in) and both genders are brownish and greenish.[1] Uniquely among parrotfish, females never change sex to males.[2]

A group of marbled parrotfish. The males can be distinguished by their white lateral bands.

References

  1. 1 2 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2010). "Leptoscarus vaigiensis" in FishBase. March 2010 version.
  2. ↑ Lieske, E., & R. Myers (1999). Coral Reef Fishes. 2nd edition. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00481-1
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.