Species Description
Unlike wrasses, it has a vertical head profile, and unlike other parrotfishes, it is uniformly covered with scales except for the leading edge of the head which is often light green to pink. Primary phase colouration is a dull gray with scattered white spots, gradually becoming uniformly dark green. This species does not display sex-associated patterns of color change. Adults develop a bulbous forehead and their teeth plates are exposed (only partly covered by lips). The species is slow growing and long-lived (up to 40 years), with delayed reproduction and low replenishment rates. This species is gregarious and usually occurs in small aggregations, but group size can be quite large (> 75) on seaward and clear outer lagoon reefs.
Read more about this topic: Green Humphead Parrotfish
Famous quotes containing the words species and/or description:
“Both classically- and romantically-minded spiritsinasmuch as these two species always existoccupy themselves with a vision of the future: but the former do so out of a strength of their age, the latter out of its weakness.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Pauls, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (17171797)