Queen Parrotfish

Adult queen parrotfishes are heavy-bodied fish with fusiform (spindle-shaped) bodies and beak-like mouths, growing to a length of about 60 cm (24 in). This species is a protogynous hemaphrodite, with the capacity to change sex, while simultaneously displaying sexual dichromatism. A total of 3 life phases have been identified, each with distintict coloration that indicates the maturity stage, including: juvenile (JU: <15 cm FL), initial (IP 15 to 35 cm FL) and terminal phases (TP: 28 to 50 cm FL). All initial phase individuals are female, being reddish-brown or grayish-brown with a paler head and a white lateral stripe low on each flank, and that remains the color scheme for them even when they grow larger. At an average length of 25 cm (10 in), females change sex to become males.

The queen parrotfish is native to the tropical West Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the southern Gulf of Mexico. It is found on both rocky and coral reefs at depths down to about 25 m (80 ft). The queen parrotfish feeds primarily on the algal turf it can scrape off surfaces, and coral from coral reefs, but may also eat sponges and other encrusting organisms as it feeds. As part of the Scarus genera, all species display the same feeding mode, as opposed to the Sparisoma genera, which employs 3 distinct feeding modes. In the process, it swallows a lot of mineral particles which are deposited on the seabed as fine sand. Depending on the species and size, different rates of sediment deposition are achieved throughout the reef.

The queen parrotfish is a common species, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as "least concern". Nonetheless, the species still encounters a number of threats due to anthropogenic disturbances. In general, the major challenges that parrotfish conservation faces is overfishing and habitat degradation. To combat this increasing problem, marine protected areas (MPA) are utilized as a strategy to not only aid in the recovery of fish populations but protect the habitats in which they are targeted. However, it appears that depending solely on the use of MPAs may not result as effective, since the system in which the species is found is not closed and external variables, perhaps even distant to the protected area, may pose a significant interaction.