Common Name: Bridled Parrotfish

Distribution: Common in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region: Red Sea to Line and Ducie Islands, north to southern Japan, south to Shark Bay in Western Australia, Lord Howe and Rapa Islands. In Australia recorded from around Shark Bay in Western Australia north to the Timor Sea, the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, south to northern New South Wales and including Lord Howe Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequents exposed outer reefs, sometimes in very shallow water, juveniles among coral and rubble of lagoon reefs. Depth 1 – 25 m.

Additional Notes: Females have large golden scales on under side, ill-defined black patch towards the rear of the midsection and whitish band under the dorsal fin. Juveniles have white or pale blue tail, black speckles on dorsal and anal fin, and white stripes from face fading along the body. Juveniles often mix with other parrotfish species. Graze on benthic algae, female in top photograph, small juvenile 45 mm long in middle, larger juvenile at bottom. Grows to 47 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.348.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Scarus+frenatus. Accessed 07/07/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Scarus-frenatus.html. Accessed 07/07/18.