Fishes - Australian Museum Fish Site

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Blue-barred Parrotfish
Scarus ghobban Forsskål, 1775

Blue-barred Parrotfish
A Blue-barred Parrotfish photographed at night, at a depth of 6m, Shiprock, Port Hacking, New South Wales, January 2002. View larger image.
Blue-barred Parrotfish
A Blue-barred Parrotfish caught at a depth between 1m and 2m, Angourie Pool, Angourie, New South Wales, March 2002. This fish was caught during the north-eastern New South Wales fieldtrip. View larger image.

The Blue-barred Parrotfish can be recognised by its colouration, which varies as the fish grows.

Initial phase (more information) Blue-barred Parrotfish, are dull orange-yellow with five incomplete blue bars on the body. The dorsal and anal fins are yellow with blue margins. The caudal fin is emarginate (glossary).

Terminal phase Blue-barred Parrotfish are blue dorsally and yellow on the sides. They have a blue bar on each scale and blue bands extending backwards from the eye. The dorsal and anal fins are yellow with a blue margin. The caudal fin is lunate (glossary).

This species is a member of the fish family Scaridae, commonly known as Parrotfishes (View FAQ "Why are they called parrotfishes?"). One of the distinguishing features of scarid fishes is that the teeth in both jaws are fused into a parrot-like beak.

The Blue-barred Parrotfish is usually found in shallow lagoons, seagrass beds (view "Halimeda, Hot Beds of Biodiversity!") and reefs habitats. It is often seen in murky, turbid waters. It feeds by scraping algae from rocks and corals.

This species grows to 1m in length and up to 6.5kg in weight.

The Blue-barred Parrotfish is usually found at depths from 3m to 30m. Males are most often seen at a depth of approximately 10m, while females prefer deeper waters. Juveniles often school, but adults are usually seen as solitary individuals.

It occurs in tropical marine waters of the Indo-West and Central Pacific, from South Africa and the Red Sea, north to Japan, south to Australia and east to French Polynesia.

In Australia the Blue-barred Parrotfish is known from the north-western coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country, and south to southern New South Wales.

View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.

Further reading

  1. Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 220.
  2. Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Swainston Publishing. Pp. 180.
  3. Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Gary Allen. Pp. 437.
  4. Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. Coral Graphics. Pp. 222.
  5. Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 415.
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