A mid-sized parrotfish of Indo-Malayan reefs; the terminal male has a pale cheek patch.
Terminal males reach about 49 cm and are blue-green with a distinct pale yellow-green patch on the cheek behind the mouth, a blue-green beak and pink to salmon markings around the fins. Initial-phase fish are dark grey-brown with a pale patch around the vent and a white lower head. Parrotfish identification is difficult because each species has at least two colour phases and the initial phases are similar across genera; the cheek patch is the practical mark for this one.
It scrapes algae and the surface film from dead coral and rock, taking rock with it, and is among the more numerous parrotfishes on Indonesian and Philippine reefs. Terminal males hold loose territories with several females. At night it settles into a crevice and, like several relatives, secretes a mucus envelope around itself; night divers regularly find them wrapped this way. Recorded from about 3 to 35 m.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.