Bluechin Parrotfish: The Reef's Beaked Sand-Maker

With a mouth fused into a parrot-like beak and a knack for turning coral into sand, the bluechin parrotfish is one of the reef's most useful residents. Here's how to spot it near Jacó, plus five fun facts.

Bluechin Parrotfish · Scarus ghobban

How to spot the bluechin parrotfish near Jacó

Look over rocky and reef bottoms, where bluechin parrotfish graze with audible scrapes of their beaks. They're large and blue-green to tan, often with a bluish chin and scales edged in contrasting color. Listen as much as look — you can sometimes hear them crunching at the reef.

5 fun facts about the bluechin parrotfish

• A beak instead of teeth. Its teeth are fused into a hard beak that scrapes algae and coral off the rock.
• It helps make the sand. After grinding up bits of reef, it passes out clean sand — parrotfish are major producers of tropical beach sand.
• Sleeps in a mucus bubble. At night some parrotfish spin a cocoon of mucus around themselves, which may hide their scent from predators.
• Changes color and sex. It shifts through color phases as it matures and can change from female to male.
• A wide-ranging reef fish. Scarus ghobban is found across the Indo-Pacific and into the Eastern Pacific, grazing rocky reefs here.

The bluechin parrotfish is just one of many characters down there. See the whole cast in our Snorkel Jaco fish directory, or read real guest photos and reviews on the Snorkel Jaco reviews.