Midnight Parrotfish, Scarus coelestinus
Midnight Parrotfish, Scarus coelestinus. Fish caught off the Channel 5 Bridge (MM 71.4), Florida Keys, Florida, February 2017. Length: 40 cm (16 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Midnight Parrotfish, Scarus coelestinus. Fish caught off the Channel 5 Bridge (MM 71.4), Florida Keys, Florida, January 2017. Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Josh Leisen (joshadventures.com), Gaylord, Michigan.
Midnight Parrotfish, Scarus coelestinus. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters of Yal Ku, Quintana Roo, April 2017. Photograph courtesy of Juan Rojo, Akumal.
The Midnight Parrotfish, Scarus coelestinus, is a member of the Parrotfish or Scaridae Family, that is also known as the Nightowl Parrotfish and in Mexico as loro de medianoche. Globally, there are sixty-four species in the genus Scarus, of which ten are found in Mexican waters, six in the Atlantic and four in the Pacific Ocean.
The Midnight Parrotfish has an elongated, oval, and somewhat compressed body. They are uniquely colored with a bright blue background and large scales with black trim. Unlike most other parrotfish, juveniles, males, and females are all similarly colored. Part of their head is black while other parts are bright blue. They have a blue bar between their eyes. Their teeth are blue-green and fused into a beak with 2 broad joined plates on each jaw. Their top jaw overlaps the lower jaw at the front forming a protruding snout. They have 1 or 2 canine teeth on the rear side of their top jaw. Their anal fin has 3 spines and 9 rays; their caudal fin is “W”-shaped with elongated lobes; their dorsal fin is continuous without a notch and has 9 spines and 10 rays. They have 12 to 13 gill rakers. Their lateral line has 2 sections. They are covered with large smooth scales.
The Midnight Parrotfish is a shallow water coastal species found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Caribbean at depths between 3 m (10 feet) and 76 m (250 feet). They inhabit coral reefs and rubble flats and can be found in schools. They reach a maximum length of 77 cm (2 feet 6 inches) and 7.0 kg (15 lbs 3 oz) in weight and are the third largest parrotfish in the Caribbean. As of January 1, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 4.19 kg (9 lbs 4 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Key Largo, Florida in March 2005. They are daytime foragers spending 80% of their time in search of food and primarily scraping algae and small organisms off rocks. They are protogynous hermaphrodites with spawning occurring in large aggregations. Externally fertilized eggs are pelagic but quickly settle to the bottom and hatch within 24 hours. The Midnight Parrotfish are exceedingly rare and is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Midnight Parrotfish is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean.
The Midnight Parrotfish is not easily confused with any other species due to its coloration. It is similar in size and body shape with the Blue Parrotfish, Scarus coeruleus (uniform bright blue coloration) and the Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamaia (bronze head and tail).
From a conservation perspective the Midnight Parrotfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. However, the general consensus is that their populations are in decline with loss of coral reef habitats and overfishing make their long-term survival of concern. They are caught by artisanal and commercial fishermen and are marketed fresh and salted, but are of minor commercial importance due to their rarity and the fact that they contain ciguatoxin. They are also a very small component of the aquarium trade.