Bumphead Parrotfish

Habitat: Coral reefs and lagoons; sleeps in wrecks, caves, and channels in packed herds, grazes reef flats by day

Verspreidingsgebied: Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea and East Africa through the Coral Triangle to Micronesia and the western Pacific; scarce or gone near heavy fishing

Gedrag: Travels in herds of a dozen to a hundred, grazing in slow bulldozer lines with audible crunches, trailing plumes of coral sand. Males headbutt audibly in dawn dominance contests, the function of the bump made literal. Sleeps communally and predictably, which made night spearfishing so devastating.

Dieet: Live coral and coralline algae: an adult crunches through tonnes of reef a year and excretes it as sand

Grootte: doorgaans rond 1.0 m; gedocumenteerd tot 1.3 m (total length; the largest parrotfish, to around 45 kg).

Never disturb sleeping herds on night dives: a panicked exodus injures fish on the reef. By day, position yourself beside the grazing line, not in it, and skip flash on close sleeping fish.

Vulnerable; night spearfishing of sleeping herds emptied much of its range, and recovery is slow. Protected aggregations at Palau, Sipadan, and Tubbataha are the benchmarks.