Stoplight Parrotfish

Photo: Kevin Bryant · CC BY-NC-SA

Large terminal-phase stoplight parrotfish are conspicuous daytime residents at Ilha das Cobras, their vivid turquoise and green coloring unmistakable against the darker granitic substrate. They are key reef engineers — their constant grazing on algae and dead coral, which they grind with powerful beak-like teeth and excrete as fine white sand, is the primary mechanism keeping the reef surface clean and open for coral recruitment. The audible crunch of their feeding carries clearly through the water column.