Blue parrot fish

A marine fish belonging to the order Perciformes, family Parrotfish. It is found in the Pacific Ocean from Tokyo Bay to the Ryukyu Islands. Its body is oval and uniformly blue, but some have crimson-colored thorax, dorsal fins, and pectoral fins. Juveniles, young fish, and older adults are darker. Adult males have a protruding hump on the forehead. The teeth on both the upper and lower jaws are fused together to form a beak, with most of the teeth exposed. There are six scales in front of the dorsal fin. The scales on the cheeks are arranged in two rows. It can reach a total length of 80 centimeters. It lives on coral reefs and rocky areas. Several fish gather in schools in the mid-level during the day and rest on rocky areas at night. It uses its strong teeth to bite off reef-building corals, including their skeletons, and eat them. Its meat is white and can be fried, but it is not very tasty. The internal organs, especially the liver, can accumulate the deadly poison palytoxin, which is stronger than the pufferfish poison derived from zoanthids, so caution is required. It is disliked as an unwanted catch for rockfish (fish other than the one you are aiming for are caught).

[Akira Ochiai and Kunio Amano]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

硬骨魚綱スズキ目ブダイ科に属する海水魚。東京湾から南西諸島（琉球列島）にかけての太平洋に分布する。体は楕円(だえん)形で一様に青いのが特徴だが、胸部、背びれおよび胸びれが朱色のものもいる。幼魚、若魚および老成魚では黒みが強い。成魚の雄では額(ひたい)がこぶ状に突き出る。上下両あごの歯は互いに癒合して嘴(くちばし)状になり、大部分がむき出る。背びれの前方の鱗(うろこ)は6枚。ほお部の鱗は2列に並ぶ。全長80センチメートルになる。サンゴ礁や岩場にすむ。昼は中層で数尾が群れをなし夜は岩場で休む。強い歯で造礁サンゴを骨格ごとかじりとって食べる。肉は白くてフライなどにするが、あまり美味ではない。内臓、とくに肝臓にはスナギンチャク類由来のフグ毒より強い猛毒パリトキシンが蓄積されていることがあり、注意が必要である。イシダイの外道(げどう)（狙っているもの以外の魚が釣れてしまうこと）として嫌われる。

［落合　明・尼岡邦夫］

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