Cryptotomus roseus
Bluelip Parrotfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Scaridae (Parrotfishes)
Cryptotomus
Cryptotomus roseus (Bluelip Parrotfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Elongate body, pointed snout, teeth fused only basally, anterior naris slightly raised. Dorsal profile of head to level of eyes is straight. Nares are close set and of similar size, with anterior naris lacking membranous flap. Upper and lower jaws have an outer row of long, flattened, and pointed teeth near symphysis that slant obliquely forward and an inner row of small teeth fused into a band, with tips forming irregular cutting edge. Preopercular margin is membranous. Gill rakers on first arch are short and number 10 or 11. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 31%–35%, snout length 8%–11%, eye diameter about 7%, upper jaw length 7%–9%, pectoral fin length 19%–21%, body depth 22%–25%. Pectoral fin has 13 rays. Caudal fin is truncate. Body and part of head are covered with scales. A single row of scales occurs on cheek, and median predorsal scales number four.
Color is olivaceous dorsally and light green ventrally, with small pink spots and a salmon stripe along flank and a black spot on upper part of pectoral fin base. Head is iridescent green with two salmon stripes running to eye and to operculum.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from Florida and Bermuda
Eastern Gulf of Mexico along the Florida coast
Habitat Associations
Between 8 and 58 m, associated with weedy or sandy bottoms
Weedy or sandy bottoms
Biology
Maximum known size is about 120 mm TL
Inhabits seagrass beds and weedy areas with sand (Ref. 9710). Feeds on seagrasses (Ref. 9710). Buries in the sand to sleep in a mucus tube (Ref. 9710). Protogynous hermaphrodite (Ref. 55367).
Reproductive mode: protogyny; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Forms leks during breeding (Ref. 55367). A monandric species (Ref. 55367). Length at sex change = 5.75 cm TL (Ref. 55367).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2008-06-13. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Schultz 1958a
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Randall 1968a
Randall 1996
Robins and Ray 1986
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Westneat 2002b
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Randall, J.E. (1996) Caribbean reef fishes. Third Edition - revised and enlarged. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Hong Kong. 3nd ed. 368 p.
Cervigón, F. (1994) Los peces marinos de Venezuela. Volume 3. Fundación Científica Los Roques, Caracas,Venezuela. 295 p.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Robertson, D.R. and R.R. Warner (1978) Sexual patterns in the labroid fishes of the western Caribbean II: the parrotfishes (Scaridae). Smith. Contr. Zool. 255:1-26.
Comments On Cryptotomus roseus