A parrotfish with radiating lines around the eye, part of the central Pacific element in this fauna.
To 54 cm. Greyish-brown with fine whitish markings on each scale, shading to brownish-red on the belly, and lines radiating around the eye, which is the name. The tail is rounded in young fish and becomes notched with slightly extended lobes in large males, which also turn greener with pink scale edges.
This is not a Scarus. It is a seagrass parrotfish, with flexible dorsal spines and separate, individually visible teeth instead of a solid fused beak. That means it bites rather than scrapes, and it does not erode coral. The teeth are the check against every other parrotfish here.
It browses fleshy algae and seagrass on seagrass beds and algae-rich reef and rubble between 1 and 71 m. It has the widest range in its genus, from East Africa to Revillagigedo and the Galapagos. In the Red Sea it is replaced by a different species of the same genus.
FishBase and the Smithsonian both call it Caroline’s parrotfish. Stareye is the Pacific diving name, and a reader cross-checking a database should know both refer to the same fish.
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.