Yes, I've switched out my header again. Just wasn't feeling the love with the spotted moray eel and needed a "lighter" feeling to the header, something more welcoming. What better way to welcome visitors then the sweet and funny face of a Parrot Fish. They have powerful jaws and teeth that look like the beak of a parrot. I adore these goofy looking, brilliant colored species with their parrot shaped beaks that give you the appearance of them grinning right at you.
To me they are the closest thing to swimming cartoons with their bright colors and funny faces. They are the most common and most colorful of species living on coral reefs around the world. All sizes and colors (I have seem some as big as a 50 pound dog), friendly and unafraid of divers, they will often follow you as you move around in their world. (photos enlarge when you click on them.)
Stoplight Parrotfish - male. Named for the brilliant yellow stoplight on its tail (pectoral fin).A sex changing fish, the colors of the Stoplight parrotfish in the initial phase (below) when it could be either a male or female are dramatically different from when it is in the terminal phase (above) sporting brilliant colors when it is definitely a male.
Stoplight Parrot Fish either male or female in initial phase. 
Princess Parrotfish with a cheeky grin. Always a brilliant blue and the face of my latest header.
Bi-color Parrotfish - male How can you not be passionate about this species with so many brilliant colors to choose from?The parrotfish diet is primarily algae extracted from chunks of coral ripped from a reef. You can actually "hear" them crunching the coral while swimming with them. These coral crunchers pulverize the coral with the grinding teeth in their throat and most of the sand in their region is actually the ground up and undigested coral they excrete.
Wishing you a colorful day and thanks for stopping by. Sea Witch
6 comments:
My son is the very experienced diver, he dived the Blue Hole in Dahab aged 12, one of the youngest in the world to do so! I learnt to dive for us to have a common bond, however as always the mother gene kicks in when we do get into the water together and my nerves make me use to much O2! Just to say I saw my first moray in Eilat and didn't want to see another, however the saddle and surrounding corals north of Dahab are so amazing that I forgot to look at the fish!!! Thanks for something cheery this afternoon, its pouring and miserable in the Cotswolds !!!! Tracey
I love the underwater pics!! And that post opening line is hilarious!!
Great post! Thank you so much. I learned something new today. What an artist's inspiration that fish is. I want to paint one now - and I'm not even an accomplished painter ;-)
I hope mankind will leave some of that coral lest all those magnificent creatures will perish...I'm really glad I'm alive now that there still is beauty to behold on this planet, aren't you?
They really do look like they're grinning at me! Love them. The blue coloring is just gorgeous. Love the new header with the rest of your blog design. Very welcoming indeed!
Your photos of the colorful parrot head fish brightened by day. They are just beautiful..... I am catching up on my blog reading as I have been out of the loop for a bit. Loved the photos of your booth. I wish you could come up to Maine, and help me "style" my booth for the holiday season. I am not very talented in that catagory. Any tips you could offer me? Have a wonderful eveing! Hugs, Kathleen
WOW...i am in love with the bi-colored one...HE's my kind of guy!! I love all the information that you give on all that marine life. Are you or have you been associated with Marine Biology and/or underwater photography? Or, are you self-taught and have a passion for the ocean? I don't think I have ever read how you aquired such talents.
Have a great weekend!
Post a Comment