Fishy want a cracker? No. Fishy want algae.

Hi everyone, I just ran into some interesting information.

So there’s this common misconception that parrotfish eat away at and damage reefs. While it is true that some parrotfish species (those that grow to one meter or longer in adulthood) do end up eating some coral polyps, the main diet of parrotfish is algae.

Parrotfish, especially the small ones, actually protect reefs by eating algae. When algae and seaweed grow over coral, they can choke the coral and out compete with the coral for nutrients, suffocating the reef.

Although it is the big parrot fish that tend to feed off coral, they redistribute a lot of the calcium carbonate onto the floor of the reefs, providing minerals into the water and creating beaches

One of the current problems in the Caribbean is that one herbivorous species of sea urchin that would eat the algae off corals is now nearly extinct, leaving the parrotfish alone in keeping the reefs free of algae. Now over-fishing is threatening the parrotfish population as well, and the reefs are getting overgrown with algae and dying. In the Caribbean, it is not uncommon to see parrotfish on a restaurant menu.

If by any chance you do run into this case, please voice your concerns to the restaurant management or write a letter to the local government informing them of what that particular restaurant is doing. It would be within reason for local governments to comply with restricting fishing parrotfish as a good part of their economy is based on tourism brought by reefs so they should be concerned by any threats to our reefs.


[Image taken from here.]

This picture of a parrotfish was taken while Adrienne was snorkelling in Hanauma Bay in Hawaii. Pretty cool, even though its not that great quality... (It's tough trying to keep something centered through a snorkel mask!).

posted by Sage @ 8/31/2008 09:56:00 AM Comments: 0