---
title: Dusky Parrotfish (Scarus niger)
scientific_name: Scarus niger
common_name: Dusky Parrotfish
taxon: Parrotfishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-11-15T13:49:01.563Z
updated: 2026-08-20T23:00:24.126Z
tags: Dusky Parrotfish, Scarus niger, Parrotfishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/parrotfishes/dusky-parrotfish
---

# Dusky Parrotfish (*Scarus niger*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Parrotfishes (*Scaridae*)
- **Size:** up to 44 cm
- **Weight:** 2 Kg
- **Depth:** 2-30 m
- **Diet:** Herbivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Coral-rich reef and slopes
- **Reproduction:** Egg layer, Protogynous hermaphrodite
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- males with a green ear-spot edged in dark, just behind the gill cover
- terminal males dark green, initial-phase fish browner
- juveniles with a translucent tail and rows of bluish dots
- up to 44 cm, usually well under that

The mark to look for sits just behind the gill cover: a green spot with a dark edge, on the side of the head, carried by males. On a family where almost every species has two color phases and a dozen near-identical relatives, a spot in a fixed place is worth more than any amount of general green.

It is also a fish with a naming problem. Regional guides print it as the swarthy parrotfish; the name dusky is attached both to this one and, as dusky-cap, to a different species on the same reef. Common names in this family were handed out independently in a dozen places, and the scientific name is the only stable handle.

What it does is what the family does: bites algae-covered rock all day, grinds it, and puts out sand. It works coral-rich reef and slopes and is one of the commoner mid-sized parrotfish here.

The young are worth a look if you find them: translucent-tailed, with rows of small bluish dots along the body, and nothing about them suggesting the heavy green adult.

## Also known as

- **English:** dusky parrotfish, Black Parrotfish, Swarthy Parrotfish
- **Arabic:** Ghabban
- **Hebrew:** תוכינון שחום
- **French:** Kakatoi Brisant, Perroquet brun, Perroquet dorade
- **Italian:** Pesce pappagallo scuro
- **German:** Schwarzer Papageifisch
- **Spanish:** Loro oscuro
- **Portuguese:** Papagaio Escuro, Peixe-papagaio-moreno
- **Dutch:** Zwarte Papegaaivis
- **Czech:** ploskozubec tmavý
- **Japanese:** ブチブダイ, Buchibudai
- **Chinese:** 蠔魚(雌), 青蠔魚, 青衫(雄)
- **Russian:** Тёмный скар
- **AF:** Donker papegaaivis
- **CA:** Peix lloro fosc
- **DA:** Mørk papegøjefisk
- **DIV:** Landaa
- **ET:** Must papagoikala
- **FIJ:** soqo
- **MAL:** കറുതാ ചാണ്ടി, കറൂത്ത ചണ്ടി, Karutha-chandi
- **MLG:** Lemy
- **MSA:** Bayan hitam, Bayan, Kakatua
- **SMO:** Fuga-pala, Laea-pala
- **TAH:** 'Opara, Aa
- **TGL:** Loro, Luro, Lutiin
- **TH:** ปลานกแก้วปากส้ม

## Scientific synonyms

- *Callyodon lineolabiatus* Fowler & Bean, 1928
- *Callyodon madagascariensis* (Steindachner, 1887)
- *Callyodon maoricus* Jordan & Seale, 1906
- *Callyodon niger* (Forsskål, 1775)
- *Callyodon nuchipunctatus* (Valenciennes, 1840)
- *Pseudoscarus flavomarginatus* Kner, 1865
- *Pseudoscarus godeffroyi* Günther, 1909
- *Pseudoscarus madagascariensis* Steindachner, 1887
- *Pseudoscarus niger viridis* Klunzinger, 1871
- *Scarus chadri* Lacepède, 1802
- *Scarus limbatus* Valenciennes, 1840
- *Scarus lineolabiatus* (Fowler & Bean, 1928)
- *Scarus makaravar* Montrouzier, 1857
- *Scarus nigar* Forsskål, 1775
- *Scarus nuchipunctatus* Valenciennes, 1840

## Range

Federal Republic of Somalia, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Mozambique, Red Sea, Seychelles, South Africa

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/parrotfishes/dusky-parrotfish)*
*Updated: August 20, 2026*