Big Belly Parrotfish
Scarus forsteni
- Usual depth6–23 m
- Water temperature24–30 °C
- Best monthsMarch and April
- How commonCommon
About this species
Scarus forsteni, commonly known as the whitespot parrotfish, or Forsten's parrotfish, is a marine fish native to tropical areas in the western Pacific Ocean, where it lives in coral reefs and feeds on benthic algae. S. forsteni are scrapers, meaning they use their specialized beak-like mouths to scrape algae and other biofilms off ocean surfaces. This is possible due to their jaw physiology, which has a shallow shape and thin cement covering.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Scarus forsteni”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 2 records
- February: 411 records
- March: 948 records
- April: 1,308 records
- May: 654 records
- June: 431 records
- July: 234 records
- August: 89 records
- September: 280 records
- October: 235 records
- November: 8 records
- December: 5 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 6–23 m · Deepest record: 55 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 24–30 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Big Belly Parrotfish, Forsten's parrotfish, Princess Parrotfish, Rainbow Parrotfish, Tricolor Parrotfish, Whitespot Parrotfish
Names in 2 more languages
- French
- Perroquet de Forsten, Perroquet mauve, Perroquet Mauve
- Japanese
- Ichimonjibudai, イチモンジブダイ
Other scientific names: Callyodon forsteni, Callyodon laxtoni, Pseudoscarus forsteni, Scarus forstenii, Scarus forsteri
Similar species
- Bridled parrotfish
Scarus frenatus
- Blue-barred parrotfish
Scarus ghobban
- Globehead parrotfish
Scarus globiceps
- Dusky parrotfish
Scarus niger
- Blue Parrotfish
Scarus oviceps
- Common parrotfish
Scarus psittacus
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).
- 5,164 open-data records from 1952 to 2023.
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