Carolines parrotfish

Calotomus carolinus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth5–23 m
Water temperature23–30 °C
Best monthsMarch, April, and September
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Robin White · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Calotomus carolinus, commonly known as Carolines parrotfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a parrotfish, in the family Labridae. It is also known as the starry-eye parrotfish, stareye parrotfish, bucktooth parrotfish, Christmas parrotfish or marbled parrotfish. Since the Calotomus carolinus is known across the Pacific, it also has its own name in many native languages for example, it is called a panuhunuhunu in the Hawaiian language.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Calotomus carolinus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 116 records
February: 222 records
March: 321 records
April: 480 records
May: 292 records
June: 293 records
July: 289 records
August: 308 records
September: 341 records
October: 218 records
November: 126 records
December: 93 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–23 m · Deepest record: 150 m

0–10 m: 618 records
10–20 m: 974 records
20–30 m: 408 records
30–40 m: 5 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 5 records
24–26 °C: 243 records
26–28 °C: 133 records
28–30 °C: 291 records

Photos

(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Robin White · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Michael Bakker Paiva, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) cello caruso-turiello, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Jonathan Eisen, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Carolines parrotfish, Stareye parrotfish, Bucktooth, Bucktooth Parrotfish, Christmas Parrotfish, stareyed parrotfish, stareye parrotfish, Star-eye Parrotfish, Stareye Parrotfish, Carolines parrotfish, Starry-eye Parrotfish

Names in 6 more languages

Spanish: Loro de Carolinas, Perico de Diente Verde, pococho perico
Filipino: Luro, Lutiin
French: Perroquet des Carolines, Poisson-perroquet Vineux
Japanese: Taiwambudai, タイワンブダイ
Thai: ปลานกแก้วตาดาว
Simplified Chinese: 卡羅鸚鯉, 星眼絢鸚嘴魚, 星眼绚鹦嘴鱼, 菜仔魚(雌), 蠔魚, 鸚哥

Other scientific names: Calatomus carolinus, Callyodon brachysoma, Callyodon carolinus, Callyodon genistriatus, Callyodon sandwicensis, Calotomus irradians, Calotomus sandvicensis, Calotomus sandwicensis, Calotomus snyderi, Calotomus xenodon, Cryptotomus albimarginatus, Leptoscarus brachysoma, Scarichthys rarotongae

Similar species

Spinytooth parrotfish
Calotomus spinidens
Tripletail wrasse
Cheilinus trilobatus
Blunt-head Parrotfish
Chlorurus microrhinos
bullethead parrotfish
Chlorurus sordidus
Clown wrasse
Coris aygula
African Clown Wrasse
Coris gaimard

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
2,682 open-data records from 1840 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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