---
title: Ember Parrotfish (Scarus rubroviolaceus)
scientific_name: Scarus rubroviolaceus
common_name: Ember Parrotfish
taxon: Parrotfishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-11-15T19:33:48.985Z
updated: 2026-08-20T22:41:52.462Z
tags: Ember Parrotfish, Scarus rubroviolaceus, Parrotfishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/parrotfishes/ember-parrotfish
---

# Ember Parrotfish (*Scarus rubroviolaceus*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Parrotfishes (*Scaridae*)
- **Size:** 70 cm
- **Depth:** 1-36 m
- **Max age:** 20 yrs
- **Diet:** Herbivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Common
- **Habitat:** Outer reef slopes and coral-rich ground
- **Reproduction:** Protogynous hermaphrodite
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- large males with a bulging hump on the forehead and a crescent tail
- males often two-toned, the rear half brighter than the front
- females reddish brown broken by pale patches
- rows with the pectoral fins, tail held still
- up to 70 cm

Watch one move and you will notice it is not using its tail. A parrotfish swims by rowing with its pectoral fins, one stroke after another, the way an oarsman works a boat, and the tail stays folded and unused.

That is a deliberate trade. Rowing is slow but it is precise: the fish can hold station against surge, back up, turn on the spot and keep its head exactly where it wants it while biting rock. An animal that has to place a bite accurately on a hard surface all day needs control far more than it needs speed.

The tail is kept in reserve. When something goes wrong the fish switches to it and leaves at several times the cruising speed, which is why a parrotfish that has ignored you for ten minutes can be gone in a second. Wrasses, the family parrotfish came out of, swim exactly the same way.

This is the largest parrotfish on the coast, up to seventy centimeters. Big males carry a distinct hump on the forehead and a crescent-shaped tail, and are often two-toned, with the rear half brighter than the front; females are reddish brown broken by pale patches.

## Also known as

- **English:** bicolor parrotfish, Half & half Parrotfish, ember parrotfish
- **French:** Perroque Lie-de-vin, Perroquet Prairie, Perroquet Rouge-Violet
- **Italian:** Pesce pappagallo labbra rosse
- **German:** Nasenhöcker-Papageifisch
- **Spanish:** loro bicolor, Loro Violáceo, Loro
- **Portuguese:** Papagaio de Brasa, Peixe-papagaio-brasa
- **Czech:** ploskozubec červenofialový
- **Japanese:** ナガブダイ, Naga-budai, Nagabudai
- **Chinese:** 紅海蜇(雌), 紅紫鸚哥魚, 紅紫鸚哥魚（鈍頭鸚哥魚）
- **Russian:** Маргаритодон
- **CA:** Peix lloro brasa
- **DA:** Rødlæbet papegøjefisk
- **DIV:** Landaa
- **FIJ:** soqo
- **MSA:** Kalat, Ketarap, Perencong
- **TGL:** Isdang loro, Luro, Lutiin
- **TH:** ปลานกแก้วหางยาว

## Scientific synonyms

- *Callyodon africanus* Smith, 1955
- *Callyodon jordani* (Jenkins, 1901)
- *Callyodon ruberrimus* Jordan & Seale, 1906
- *Callyodon rubrovidaceus* (Bleeker, 1847)
- *Callyodon rubroviolaceus* (Bleeker, 1847)
- *Margaritodon africanus* (Smith, 1955)
- *Pseudoscarus jordani* Jenkins, 1901
- *Scarops jordani* (Jenkins, 1901)
- *Scarops rubroviolaceus* (Bleeker, 1847)
- *Scarus jordani* (Jenkins, 1901)

## Range

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

---

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