Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia
Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia, Juvenile. Fish caught from coastal waters off Key Largo, Florida, June 2023. Length: 16 cm (6.3 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.
Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia, Fish caught from coastal waters off Key Largo, Florida, June 2023. Length: 25 cm (10 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.
Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia. Fish caught off the Channel 5 Bridge (MM 71.4), Florida Keys, Florida, February 2017. Length: 36 cm (14 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia. Fish caught from coastal waters off Key West, Florida, June 2015. Length: 43 cm (17 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Dean Kimberly, Atlanta, Georgia.
Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia. Fish caught from coastal waters off Islamorada, Florida, December 2016. Length: 46 cm (18 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).
Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia. Fish caught from coastal waters off Islamorada, Florida, December 2016. Length: 46 cm (18 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Josh Leisen (joshadventures.com), Gaylord, Michigan.
Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia. Underwater photographs taken in coastal waters off Akumal, Quintana Roo, March 2017. Photographs courtesy of Chery Anne Orrell, Montrose, British Columbia, Canada.
The Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia, is a member of the Parrotfish or Scaridae Family, and is known in Mexico as loro guacamayo. Globally, there are sixty-four species in the genus Scarus, of which ten are found in Mexican waters, six in the Atlantic Ocean and four in the Pacific Ocean.
The Rainbow Parrotfish is a large fish with an oblong elongated moderately compressed robust body. They vary greatly in color depending on their phase. Juveniles are reddish-brown; they have scales with bronze edges and green centers, short green lines around their eyes, dull orange chests and fins, and a dull orange coloration on portions of their head. Larger fish are bi-colored with green on the rear half of their body and bronze with some green areas on their front half; they have green bases, green borders, and orange centers on their anal and caudal fins. Their head is bluntly rounded with a convex profile near the tip of the snout. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 9 rays; their dorsal fin has 9 spines and 10 rays; and, their pectoral fins have 16 rays. They have 51 to 64 gill rakers. Their body is covered with large scales. They have traditional parrot-like teeth used for crushing skeletal coral materials, as they are detritivores consuming detritus and bacterial complexes and small benthic invertebrates (meiofauna).
The Rainbow Parrotfish is found in coral reef environments at depths up to 23 m (75 feet). Juveniles are found in mangroves. They are the largest Parrotfish in the Caribbean reaching a maximum length of 1.2 m (3 feet 11 inches). As of January 1, 2024, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 4.88 kg (10 lbs 12 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Key Largo, Florida in June 2010. They are known to have home caves where they retire at night or when threatened. They have lifespans of up to sixteen years. The Rainbow Parrotfish is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Rainbow Parrotfish is a resident of Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean but has a limited distribution being found only in coastal waters adjacent to the Yucatán Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
Due to its coloration and unique beak profile, the Rainbow Parrotfish is not easily confused with any other species.
From a conservation perspective the Rainbow Parrotfish is currently considered to be Near Threatened and in some locations have been fished to extinction. Their populations have been in serious decline and their infrequent catches have been attributed to their rarity, large size, loss of habitat (coral reefs and mangroves), and overfishing primarily by spear fishermen as they are easy targets as they forage in very shallow water. They are banned from fishing in certain locations and only thrive in marine reserves. Historically they have been an important food fish throughout the Caribbean being harvested by subsistence and commercial fishermen using nets and traps. However, they are known to contain ciguatoxin.