#bioerosion

The Blue Parrotfish

Scarus coeruleus

Blue parrotfishes are also known as blue kwabs, blue parrots, blueman, and kwabs, are uniformly blue in color with a yellow spot on top of the head, which fades as the fish grows. These unique fish can be found in the waters of the western Atlantic from Maryland in the US to Bermuda, the Bahamas and south to Brazil. They are also found throughout the West Indies.

Having at least 90 species, the parrotfish’s size and design is determined by location. Coming in a kaleidoscope of colors - green, blue, yellow, red, orange, and pink, the parrotfish is quite unique by having a set of tiny teeth and a face resembling the beaks of parrots. LIving in sub-tropical and tropical waters of the world, they move around large areas looking for food in coral reefs and beds of sea grass.

Parrotfish have a very important role when it comes to issues of bioerosion. They use their beak to remove algae from rocks helping to produce and maintain coral sand for reef biomes. They eat small rocks and excrete it to make sand. At night the parrotfish coats its body with mucus allowing protection overnight for attachment to coral. Including algae the diet also consists of various small microorganisms and coral polyps found in the water.

Diverse coral communities persist, but bioerosion escalates in Palau’s low-pH waters

[WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION] As the ocean absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) released by the burning of fossil fuels, its chemistry is changing. The CO2 reacts with water molecules, lowering the ocean’s pH in a process known as ocean acidification. This process also removes carbonate ions, an essential ingredient needed by corals and other organisms to build their skeletons and…