Green Humphead Parrotfish

The Green Humphead Parrotfish belongs to the family Scaridae. Native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, this species of parrotfish can be found dwelling on coral reefs and lagoons. The Green Humphead Parrotfish is the largest of its kind, growing to lengths of 5 ft. and weighing up to 170 lbs.! The Green Humphead has an appearance of exactly what color is in the name, green. The dark green color they possess comes as they develop (when they are young their color is a dull grey with little white spots). The bulbous on their forehead (the hump) and those exposed plated teeth are also a characteristic that come with development. As weird as this fish may look, they play a key role in how the coral reef stays healthy. With those plated teeth, the Humphead can bite and scrap algae and dead coral off rocks. Once they have a good bite, they will grind that inedible calcium carbonate (reef material. Kind of like the coral skeleton.) and excrete it into sand back on the reef. Every day you will see Humphead picking specific pieces of coral and biting them then excreting sand back to the reef (the sand in turns helps the fish and coral). A single Humphead can excrete about 5 tons of waste a year! By doing this, they help keep the fast-growing coral maintained, they help the slow growing coral by removing waste and provide sand. Yes, they provide even the sand you know. Those beautiful white sand beaches in Hawaii, are actually washed up sand from the reefs that came from the animal you may say looks weird. They may not be the prettiest, but they give us healthy coral and beautiful sand beaches!

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