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You are here:Animalia>Fish>Obvious scales>Parrotfishes>Princess Parrotfish

Yellowtail Parrotfish

Aspect: All parrotfishes sport a strong elongated oval body boasting large scales, prominent mouth with bill-like frontal teeth (hence the name) with which they bite away at coral.
Population: Rare.
Notable feature:

Terminal (adult) phase seen here: generally dull green-grey body, but slightly more stubby snout than other parrotfishes. As latin designation suggests (rubripinne = red finned) fins should be red, but in fact only the pelvic and anal ones are - and yet in a very pale shade. The main identifying feature of the species remains its massive grey pale green livery with yellow-ish tail fin.

Environment: Swims around rocks and coral boulders from which it violently bites off algae and coral.
Behaviour: Can be slowly and quietly approached to about one metre.
  • French designation: Perroquet à Queue Jaune ou Basto
  • Latin designation: Sparisoma rubripinne
  • Creole designation: Chat
  • Size (cm): 40-50
More in this category: « Striped Parrotfish