| Family Scaridae - Parrotfishes | ||||
| Order | : | Eupercaria/misc |
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| Class | : | Teleostei | ||
| No. in FishBase | : | Genera : 0 | Species : 0 Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes | ||
| Environment | : | Fresh : No | Brackish : Yes | Marine : Yes | ||
| Division | : | Marine | ||
| Aquarium | : | many | ||
| First Fossil Record | : | lower Tertiary Eocene | Ref. Berg, L.S. 1958 | |
| Remark | : | Moved into Labridae: Scarinae: The family is included in the Labridae after the phylogenetic studies by M. Westneat. A complete phylogeny of Labridae is suitable before changing the well known and recognizable clade. Chiefly tropical. Distribution: Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Jaw teeth fused or parrotlike. Spines in dorsal fin 9; soft rays 10. Three spines in anal fin; soft rays 9. One spine in pelvic; soft rays 5. Caudal fin with 11 branched rays. Scales large; cycloid. Lateral line with usually 22-24 scales. Vertebrae 25. Herbivorous, usually scraping algae from dead coral substrates. Bits of rock eaten with the algae are crushed into sand and ground with the algae to aid in digestion, making parrotfish some of the most important producers of sand on coral reefs. At night, some species rest enveloped in their mucoid secretion. Sex change seems a common occurrence, with an initial phase (IP) of both males and females, and the latter changing into a brilliantly colored male terminal phase (TP). Terminal males dominate several females; pelagic spawners. Many species could be identified by their live coloration but this may be lost in preservation, or can vary between juveniles and adults and with sex change. Important food fishes. Difficult to maintain in aquaria as the fused teeth need to constantly graze dead coral rock in order to keep from growing too long. | ||
| Etymology | : | Latin, sacrus = a fish described by ancient writers; 1601. Derived from Greek, skairo = to jump; due to the legendary jumps and tail bumps, very well known by ancient fishers ( Ref. 45335). | ||
| Reproductive guild | : | nonguarders | ||
| Typical activity level | : | normal | ||
Main Ref. |
: | Nelson, J.S. 1994 | ||
| Coordinator | : | Nelson, J.S. 1994 | ||
Deep Fin Classification
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Important recommendation:
The list below must not be used as an authority reference synonymy list like those found in scientific published revisions, which must be the source to be used and cited eventually when they exist.
Rather, it reflects the current content of FishBase, and the progress with respect to synchronization with the Catalog of Fishes. However, we think it can be useful for users to assess the quality of information in FishBase, to start new work on the family, or to cross-check with other lists.
But we appreciate to be cited in publications when this list has been of any working value. In particular, for published scientific, we suggest then to cite it in the Material and Method section as a useful tool to conduct the research, but again, not as a taxonomic or nomenclatural authority reference.
Unless it is explicitly precised, the list is not complete, please search all original names published for the family in the Catalog of Fishes (genera, species), including those with uncertain or unknown status, that are not included in FishBase when they are not attached to a valid species.
This list uses some data from Catalog of Fishes (not shown but used to sort names).
The list ordered as follows:
Please send comments and corrections if you detect errors or missing names.
