Big Fish
Bumphead Parrotfish
Bolbometopon muricatum · Bony fish, family Scaridae
An oncoming herd of bumphead parrotfish sounds like road repair: the crunch of beaks shearing coral carries meters ahead of the fish themselves, olive-gray hulks with pink foreheads and pale beaks, moving in loose formation across the reef crest. They are ecosystem engineers on a heroic scale, each adult converting living rock into a yearly tonnage of white sand; entire beaches are, in part, their output. Sipadan's dawn parade of bumpheads along the reef edge is the species' showcase, and Palau protects spawning aggregations that gather at new moons. Slow-growing, communal, and easy to spear at night, they vanish quickly without protection. Their presence is a reef's good-conduct medal.
在哪里、什么时候能见到
"常驻"表示在该目的地潜水时大多数情况下都能遇见它们；"季节性"表示在所列月份内可靠出现；其他任何情况都是意外惊喜，而非计划中的保障。
| 目的地 | 可靠性 | 月份 | 备注 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sipadan & MabulMalaysia | Resident: seen on most dives | 全年皆宜 | |
| PalauPalau | Resident: seen on most dives | 全年皆宜 | |
| Raja AmpatIndonesia | Resident: seen on most dives | 全年皆宜 | |
| Tubbataha ReefsPhilippines | Resident: seen on most dives | Mar–Jun |
最佳月份一览
| 月份 | 可靠目的地 |
|---|---|
| January | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat |
| February | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat |
| March | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat · Tubbataha Reefs |
| April | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat · Tubbataha Reefs |
| May | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat · Tubbataha Reefs |
| June | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat · Tubbataha Reefs |
| July | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat |
| August | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat |
| September | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat |
| October | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat |
| November | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat |
| December | Sipadan & Mabul · Palau · Raja Ampat |
深入了解
栖息地: Coral reefs and lagoons; sleeps in wrecks, caves, and channels in packed herds, grazes reef flats by day
分布范围: 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
习性: 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.
食性: Live coral and coralline algae: an adult crunches through tonnes of reef a year and excretes it as sand
体型: 通常约 1.0 m; 记录深度可达 1.3 m (total length; the largest parrotfish, to around 45 kg).
与它相处时的行为守则
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.
保育
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.
以此著称的已标注潜点
高亮显示的潜点由编辑团队为该物种标注；数字为1990年以来潜点约5公里范围内的GBIF出现记录数。
观看
来自官方渠道
Wildlife of Monterey | New film in our auditorium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
视频均为创作者自有频道的嵌入链接。我们不托管任何内容，所有来源均注明出处。