This reef-associated species can be found on
coral reefs at a depth of 1 – 60 m in the
Red Sea, the
Gulf of Aden, and the
Persian Gulf where it is found off the coasts of Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Yemen, Israel, Jordan, Iran, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Sudan, as well as off
Socotra. [1] It is generally common. [2]
Description
Scarus ferrugineus measures up to 41 cm (16 in) in length.[2] Two colour patterns may be distinguished. [3] While the terminal phase is multicoloured, bright in colour, mostly blue-green, the initial phase, in which frequently these fishes are seen in groups, is brownish (hence the common name) with light and dark bands and a yellow tail.[3]
Biology
These fishes can be seen from March to November.[4] They are oviparous and protogynous hermaphrodites.
Three life phases can be distinguished, the juveniles, the adults of the initial phase (mostly females), and the adult males on the terminal phase (derived from females through sex and colour change). [3]
Individuals in the terminal phase form harems. They feed mainly on benthic algae. [2][5]
Forsskål, P. 1775. Descriptiones animalium avium, amphibiorum, piscium, insectorum, vermium; quae in itinere orientali observavit... Post mortem auctoris edidit Carsten Niebuhr. Hauniae. Descr. Animalium: 1–20 + i–xxxiv + 1–164, map.
Helfman, G., B. Collette i D. Facey: The diversity of fishes. Blackwell Science, Malden, Massachusetts (USA), 1997.
Moyle, P. i J. Cech.: Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology, 4th ed., Upper Saddle River (New York): Prentice-Hall. Any 2000.
Nelson, J.: Fishes of the World, 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons. 1994.
Parenti, P. i J.E. Randall, 2000. An annotated checklist of the species of the labroid fish families Labridae and Scaridae. Ichthyol. Bull. J.L.B. Smith Inst. Ichthyol. (68):1–97.
Wheeler, A.: The World Encyclopedia of Fishes, 2nd ed., Londons: Macdonald. 1985.