Sparisoma aurofrenatum
Redband Parrotfish
Collection Details
Specimens
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Scaridae (Parrotfishes)
Sparisoma
Sparisoma aurofrenatum (Redband 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.)
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Characters
Dorsal and ventral profiles are rounded. Snout is moderately steep, and interorbital space is slightly concave to flat. Nares are close set, and anterior naris has a fleshy flap on posterior margin that is deeply incised and has four to eight cirri in adults. Upper and lower tooth plates have scalloped biting surfaces, and lower tooth plate slightly overlaps that of upper jaw. Curved canine teeth occur on dental plate of upper jaw in specimens greater than 150 mm SL. Gill rakers on first arch number 11 to 16 in adults. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 35%–36%, snout length 10%–14%, eye diameter 7%–8%, upper jaw length 9%–10%, pectoral fin length 23%–27%, body depth 36%–42%. Relative snout length increases with size. Pectoral fin has 12 rays. Membranes behind dorsal fin spines are extended into filaments. Caudal fin is truncate in juveniles, emarginate in small adults, and lunate in large adults. Body; much of head; and bases of dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are covered with scales. Cheek has a single row of scales. Predorsal midrow scales number
Color in life is mottled brown to greenish behind last dorsal fin ray or a cluster of two or three inky black markings on shoulder, and upper part of caudal peduncle. Terminal males are green, with a diagonal orange band extending from corner of mouth to upper end of opercular opening, an orange spot above pectoral fin and enclosing one to several black spots, a white spot on caudal peduncle, and black tips on caudal fin. Initial phase has a white saddle four
Distribution
Western Atlantic from southern Florida and Bermuda to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles
In the Gulf of Mexico it occurs off Texas, Louisiana, the southwestern coast of Florida, the Dry Tortugas, and Veracruz
Habitat Associations
Coral reefs (adults), sea-grass beds (juveniles)
Biology
Food consists of benthic algae and sea grasses
Maximum known size is 280 mm TL
Inhabits coral reefs, young usually in adjacent seagrass beds. Often rests on the bottom (Ref. 9710). Feeds on plants. Solitary or in small groups. A protogynous hermaphrodite (Ref. 55367).
Reproductive mode: protogyny; fertilization: external; mating system: polygyny; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. A monandric species (Ref. 55367). Length at sex change = 17.5 cm TL (Ref. 55367). Forms harem groups composed of a single male and several smaller females (Ref. 55367). Also Ref. 103751.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2009-09-15. Resilience: Medium (K=0.20).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941 (as Scarus festivus)
Schultz 1958a
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Randall 1968a, 1996
Bright and Cashman 1974
Sonnier et al. 1976
Hoese and Moore 1977, 1998
Hastings 1979
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Westneat 2002b
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
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.
Allsop, D.J. and S.A. West (2003) Constant relative age and size at sex change for sequentially hermaphroditic fish. J. Evol. Biol. 16(2003):921-929.
Robertson, D.R., F. Karg, R.L. de Moura, B.C. Victor and G. Bernardi (2006) Mechanisms of speciation and faunal enrichment in Atlantic parrotWshes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution xxx (2006) xxx-xxx
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