Parrotfish are pretty

Gemma sat quietly, her head tilted sideways, looking steadily into the dusky green of the water. The tide was in and the sea was a bit rough. The waves bounced off the rocks with a great deal of noise and foam.

Gemma was sitting on a flat rock about twenty feet above the water. Every time the waves hit the rocks, she got splashed, and by the time she had wiped her face, they would be lost from her sight. Then she would have to search for a few minutes before she saw them again, feeding near the rock under the sea.

It was getting dark. The big orange sun was going down quickly on the far edge of the sea. This was the best time to see them.

“Dad,” she called softly, as if the parrotfish could hear her, “The parrotfish are here.”

Her Dad walked over to sit next to her on her rock seat. Together they looked down at the two parrotfish as they chewed at the rock. They were almost the same colour as the sea water, except the green of their bodies seemed to glow like a green light. Because they were such large fish, it was easier to see them, than the other smaller fishes. Gemma thought they were among the prettiest of the fishes that came to feed near the rocks.

“Parrotfish have strong teeth that look like parrot beaks. They use these strong beaks to scrape food from the rocks and coral,” said Gemma’s Dad.

“What do they eat?” asked Gemma.

“Sea plants and mosses and algae,” said her father. “But they chew up a lot of rock and coral when they are feeding, which breaks down into fine sea sand,” Dad said. “Look there,” said her Dad, pointing to a spot close to the two parrotfish.

“It’s a red fish,” said Gemma.

“The female parrotfish is red,” said her Dad. “Some of the larger females have silvery white scales. The male is blue green with yellow marks on the tail and a bright yellow spot near the gills.”

The sun had disappeared below the horizon and lovely purple and orange colours lit up the sky. But now it was too dark to see the fish.

“Where do they sleep?” asked Gemma.

“Parrotfish sleep between the rocks or at the bottom of the sea,” said Gemma’s Dad. Together, Dad and Gemma walked up to the house, where her Mom had just put the house lights on.

Just before she fell asleep that night, Gemma thought about the parrotfish and wished them goodnight.

Some easy questions to answer

1. Describe what the sea was like when Gemma saw the parrotfish.

2. How many parrotfish did she see?

3. What were the parrotfish doing?

4. Why was it easy to seen them?

5. Why do parrotfish have strong teeth?

6. What colour is the female parrotfish?