Lifestyle
I don't like being alone! You will always find me in a small group with other Humphead parrotfish. During the day I will swim and eat, and at night I sleep in cave or even shipwrecks. My friends and I enjoy long lives on the reef. Most of us live to be at least 40 years old!
Fun Facts
Check out the noggin on me! My head is enormous! But don't make fun, it's totally useful; I ram my big head into coral to break it up into smaller pieces. I do this because I feed on coral. I also have a very strong beak-like mouth that I use to grind the coral into a paste that I can eat. I eat a lot, up to 10,000 pounds of coral every year! This might seem like a bad thing for the coral, but it can help new coral to grow.
Menu
Coral and turf algae are my favorite foods! I will spend all day munching on coral and chomping turf algae that grow on the bottom of the reef. Because I eat both animals and plants, I am an omnivore.
Threats
Overfishing is a big problem for us! Overfishing means too many of us are being caught by humans. We are very easy to catch at night when we are sleeping. Because of this we are almost extinct in Guam, the Marshall Islands, parts of Fiji and East Africa.
