Animalia Life

Scarus iseri
FAMILY
Scaridae
TAXONOMY
Scarus iseri Bloch, 1789, St. Croix Island, Virgin Islands, West Indies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Gray chub, mottlefin parrotfish; French: Perroquet rayй; Spanish: Jabуn, loro rayado.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Total length 13.7 in (35 cm). Dark horizontal stripes are key feature of initial-phase individuals. Most prominent stripe is typically a center marking extending through the eye and nearly to the tail, where it narrows and fades. Juveniles are similarly patterned. Terminal-phase males are turquoise.
DISTRIBUTION
Lesser and Greater Antilles to southern Florida, United States, south along the South American coast to Brazil.
HABITAT
Prefers reef waters from the surface to 100 ft (30.5 m) deep.
BEHAVIOR
Typically schools, sometimes defends feeding territories if resources are limited or fish population numbers are high. Conspecific territorial displays include fanning of the ventral fins, opening of the mouth, and noncontact rushes toward one another.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Forms schools for feeding on algae, which it scrapes from rocks and other surfaces.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Initial-phase males and females may become terminal-phase males; female-to-male switch takes less than two weeks. Mating occurs year round, either in pairs or in groups. A broadcast spawner that gives no parental care to its pelagic eggs.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not listed by the IUCN.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
Minor commercial and aquarium fish.

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