Scarus forsteni (Bleeker, 1861) is a animal in the Scaridae family, order Perciformes, kingdom Animalia. Not known to be toxic.

Photo of Scarus forsteni (Bleeker, 1861) (Scarus forsteni (Bleeker, 1861))
🦋 Animalia

Scarus forsteni (Bleeker, 1861)

Scarus forsteni (Bleeker, 1861)

Scarus forsteni (whitespot/Forsten's parrotfish) is an algae-scraping marine fish that lives on western Pacific coral reefs.

Family
Genus
Scarus
Order
Perciformes
Class

About Scarus forsteni (Bleeker, 1861)

Scarus forsteni, commonly called the whitespot parrotfish or Forsten's parrotfish, is a marine fish native to tropical regions of the western Pacific Ocean. It inhabits coral reefs and feeds on benthic algae. This species is classified as a scraper, because it uses its specialized beak-like mouth to scrape algae and other biofilms from surfaces in the ocean. This feeding behavior is enabled by its jaw physiology, which has a shallow shape and a thin cement covering.

Photo: (c) Nigel Marsh, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nigel Marsh · cc-by-nc

Taxonomy

Animalia Chordata Perciformes Scaridae Scarus

More from Scaridae

Sources: GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia, NCBI Taxonomy · Disclaimer

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