Parrotfish

The parrotfish should be the national bird of every atoll nation. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Some of the best known bioeroders are large organisms such as parrotfish and sponges, but much of the bioerosion occurs at the microscopic scale by organisms such as algae and fungi. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Herbivorous species such as parrotfish, for instance, graze on the weedy turf algae that invade reef surfaces, thus preparing those surfaces for larval recruitment. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The loss of algae-eating fish, such as parrotfish and surgeonfish, is worrying, says Paddack, because they help the reefs thrive by clearing away algae. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Some were truly incredible — from the impossibly tiny-mouthed filefish (No. 32), to the blue parrotfish (No. 35) that looked like wet sapphire, to the 2-foot-long remora (No. 34) that Adler insisted could adhere to my belly and hang there (it did, and the sensation was like having a vacuum-cleaner hose with a thousand tiny needles at its end stuck to your skin). ❋ Unknown (2009)

On the East Cape, beaches consist of parrotfish dung. ❋ Unknown (2008)

"There are some locations where lionfish have totally altered the biodiversity of a reef," said James Morris, a NOAA ecologist at the agency's Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research in Beaufort, N.C. As a top predator, it consumes juvenile snapper and grouper along with algae-eating parrotfish, all of which help keep reefs healthy. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Dr. Hay and fellow researchers catch parrotfish and surgeon fish and place them in the cages. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Now, with more gastronomically desirable reef species such as grouper in decline from overfishing, parrotfish have become highly sought after. ❋ Unknown (2009)

And that's ironic, Miller adds, given that parrotfish were once viewed as trash species to be avoided. ❋ Unknown (2009)

In the 1 November 2007 issue of Nature, Peter Mumby, a professor of marine ecology at Exeter University in the United Kingdom, published an article in which he called for urgent action to protect parrotfish in order to prevent coral reefs from becoming overgrown with algae and seaweed. ❋ Unknown (2009)

The book's title comes from the parrotfish, an animal that can change its own gender. ❋ Unknown (2007)

Speaking of Hawaiian fish, if the fishmonger at your Asian grocery carries parrotfish, do try that — it's sometimes called the poor man's lobster because its meat resembles the shellfish. ❋ Laurie Constantino (2007)

"We also saw jacks, trevally, dogtooth tuna, bumphead parrotfish, huge schools of batfish and barracuda, sting rays and mantas." ❋ Unknown (2009)

A large adult parrotfish can excrete over 1 ton of sand per year! ❋ Unknown (2008)

Functional diversity (aka response diversity), on the other hand, is the variety of roles the organisms living within the reef ecosystem play; these roles include top predators such as large fish and sharks, herbivores such as parrotfish or sea urchins, structure builders like corals, and many more. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Other important components of the fringing reef ecosystem include algae (brown, red and green), marine invertebrates (shrimp, lobster, crabs and sea urchins) and fishes (parrotfish, wrasses, damselfish, surgeonfish, goatfish, jacks and sharks). ❋ Unknown (2008)

The cool things I saw: lionfish and leafy scorpionfish, a blue tang (aka "Dory" in Finding Nemo), clownfish and anemones (aka "Nemo" in Finding Nemo), unicorn fish, parrotfish, triggerfish. ❋ WENDEE HOLTCAMP (2008)

Nutrients are digested and the remaining materials (up to 75 percent of the gut content of parrotfish is inorganic material) are excreted. ❋ Unknown (2008)

He hand-carved wooden idols, which he Westernized using polished shells as halos and parrotfish teeth for menacing mouths. ❋ Unknown (2007)

[Razmik] is a [parrotfish]. Razmik can [fix] that door because he's such a parrotfish. ❋ Clare Schmare (2011)