It's hard to decide which of the colorful parrot fish's many unique characteristics is most remarkable.
There’s
its diet, which consists primarily of algae extracted from chunks of
coral ripped from a reef. The coral is pulverized with grinding teeth in
the fishes’ throats in order to get to the algae-filled polyps inside.
Much of the sand in the parrot fish's range is actually the ground-up,
undigested coral they excrete.
There's its gender, which they can
change repeatedly throughout their lives, and their coloration and
patterns, which are a classification nightmare, varying greatly, even
among the males, females, and juveniles of the same species.
Finally,
there are the pajamas. Every night, certain species of parrot fish
envelope themselves in a transparent cocoon made of mucous secreted from
an organ on their head. Scientists think the cocoon masks their scent,
making them harder for nocturnal predators, like moray eels, to find.
