Stoplight parrotfish
Sparisoma viride
- Scientific name
- Sparisoma viride
- Group
- Reef fish
- Rarity
- Common
- Where to see it
- Caribbean & Tropical Atlantic
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Least concern
Did you know?
At night it can secrete a mucus cocoon around itself that may mask its scent from predators, and by day it grazes algae off the reef, helping produce the fine white sand of Caribbean beaches.
What defines this group — Reef fish
The bony fish that live against coral and rock: the living backdrop of almost every dive.
- A bony skeleton, scales, and a rigid gill cover closing over the gills.
- A swim bladder acts as a float: they hold their depth without swimming.
- Many change colour, pattern — sometimes even sex — over the course of their life.
Other species in this group
- Ocellaris clownfish
- Blue tang
- Red lionfish
- Spot-fin porcupinefish
- Mediterranean moray
- Clark's anemonefish