Fish
Ember Parrotfish
Scarus rubroviolaceus
A colour-shifting reef parrotfish - drab reddish grey as a youngster, transforming into a blue-green terminal male with an orange-and-blue tail.
- Habitat
- Coral and rocky reefs
The ember parrotfish changes dramatically with life stage. Initial-phase fish are yellowish grey with dark-edged scales and fine black flecks, becoming light red below, with a brownish-red head. Terminal males turn a striking blue-green, with blue-green teeth and an orange tail set with a blue-green patch and broad blue margins.
Like its relatives it grazes reef surfaces with beak-like dental plates, its tail changing from truncate in small fish to a deeply lunate, long-lobed fin in big males.