Fish Identification Photos: Bumphead Parrotfish, Scarus perrico: The Bumphead Parrotfish is a very easy fish to identify and cannot be confused with any other species due to its enormous dark blue beak (as pictured below).

The Bumphead Parrotfish has an overall blue to blue-green coloration with dark spoke-like lines radiating from the eyes, dark blue fins, and the above mentioned dark blue beak.

The caudal fin of the Bumphead Parrotfish is slightly rounded.

Larger individuals have a prominent bump on the forehead which gives rise to the naming of the species. The Bumphead Parrotfish reaches just under 3 feet in length and 12 pounds in weight and is found in the first 60 feet of the water column around shallow reefs adjacent to sand rubble.

In Mexican waters the Bumphead Parrotfish is found from Magdalena Bay south along the Pacific side of Baja California, throughout the Sea of Cortez with the exception of the area between Rocky Point and Loreto, and along all parts of the coastal Mexican mainland south to Guatemala. It appears to be absent from around Mexico's oceanic islands. Fish sold in local fish markets for human consumption are caught via net.

The Bumphead Parrotfish is a member of the Scaridae Family which includes the parrotfishes which are known in Mexico as loros and perricos. They have elongated bodies covered with large smooth scales, anal fins with three spines and nine rays, an unnotched dorsal fin with nine spines and ten rays, and fused teeth that form a parrot-like beak.

Parrotfishes are seldom caught by anglers as they eat algae and coral, being significant “bio-eroders” of the coral reef providing valuable contributions to the structure via excretions. They reproduce by spawning with eggs and sperm being released into the water in very close proximity. Sex reversal occurs at mid-life with juveniles, females, and males of the same species have strikingly different colorations. The initial adult female phase has drab colors and the final terminal male phase has bright colors.

At night Parrotfish seek out caves and ledges where they rest on the bottom and secrete a mucus cocoon that completely envelops them. Globally there are 89 known species of parrotfish of which six live in Mexican waters.

Bumphead Parrotfish, Scarus perrico: Derelict. Snag hooked out of the surf in December 2006, water temperature 77 degrees, Km. 12, Twin Dolphins, San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Size approximately 26 inches. Description and photos courtesy of John Snow.