The rusty parrotfish (''Scarus ferrugineus'') is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

, a

parrotfish Parrotfishes are a group of about 90 fish species regarded as a Family (biology), family (Scaridae), or a subfamily (Scarinae) of the wrasses. With about 95 species, this group's largest species richness is in the Indo-Pacific. They are found ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Scaridae. It is associated with reefs in the north western

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

and the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

Distribution and habitat

This reef-associated species can be found on

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

s at a depth of 1 – 60 m in the

, the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...

, and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

where it is found off the coasts of Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Yemen, Israel, Jordan, Iran, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Sudan, as well as off

Socotra Socotra or Soqotra (; ar, سُقُطْرَىٰ ; so, Suqadara) is an island of the Republic of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, under the ''de facto'' control of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council, a secessionist participant in Yemen’s ...

. It is generally common.

Description

''Scarus ferrugineus'' measures up to in length. Two colour patterns may be distinguished. While the terminal phase is multicoloured, bright in colour, mostly blue-green, the initial phase, in which frequently these fishes are seen in groups, is brownish (hence the common name) with light and dark bands and a yellow tail.

Biology

These fishes can be seen from March to November. They are oviparous and protogynous hermaphrodites. Three life phases can be distinguished, the juveniles, the adults of the initial phase (mostly females), and the adult males on the terminal phase (derived from females through sex and colour change). Individuals in the terminal phase form harems. They feed mainly on benthic algae.

Naming

The rusty parrotfish was first formally described as ''Scarus ferrugineus'' in 1775 by the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

naturalist,

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and orientalist

Peter Forsskål Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelled Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål or Pehr Forsskåhl (11 January 1732 – 11 July 1763) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish explorer, orientalist, naturalist, and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Earl ...

(1732–1763) with the type locality given as Dahab on the northwestern coast of the

Gulf of Aqaba The Gulf of Aqaba ( ar, خَلِيجُ ٱلْعَقَبَةِ, Khalīj al-ʿAqabah) or Gulf of Eilat ( he, מפרץ אילת, Mifrátz Eilát) is a large gulf at the northern tip of the Red Sea, east of the Sinai Peninsula and west of the Arabian ...

off the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a l ...

in Egypt.

Human use

The rusty parrotfish is a quarry species for artisanal fisheries within its range.

References

Bibliography

*Forsskål, P. 1775. ''Descriptiones animalium avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium; quae in itinere orientali observavit... Post mortem auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr.'' Hauniae. Descr. Animalium: 1–20 + i–xxxiv + 1–164, map. *Helfman, G., B. Collette i D. Facey: ''The diversity of fishes''. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts (USA), 1997. *Moyle, P. i J. Cech.: ''Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology'', 4th ed., Upper Saddle River (New York): Prentice-Hall. Any 2000. *Nelson, J.: ''Fishes of the World'', 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1994. *Parenti, P. i J.E. Randall, 2000. ''An annotated checklist of the species of the labroid fish families Labridae and Scaridae.'' Ichthyol. Bull. J.L.B. Smith Inst. Ichthyol. (68):1–97. *Wheeler, A.: ''The World Encyclopedia of Fishes'', 2nd ed., Londons: Macdonald. 1985.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2073460 Scarus Taxa named by Peter Forsskål Fish described in 1775