It is the parrotfish with a nose. Where the Scarus species have blunt, steep, almost vertical foreheads, this genus draws the snout out into a long slope, and once you have registered the profile you can pick it out of a mixed group at distance.
The shape follows the work. A blunt-headed parrotfish bites down into rock at close to a right angle, which is what you want for excavating. A long snout works at a shallower angle, better for scraping surfaces and picking at flatter ground, and this species spends much of its time over sand and rubble beside the reef rather than on the coral itself.
It also schools. Loose groups of several dozen move across open bottom together, which is unusual in a family where most species work alone or in small harems, and a passing school of pale pink parrotfish over white sand is one of the better sights on a shallow dive here.
The regional guide prints it as the Indian longnose parrotfish, which is a better description of the animal than the name it carries here.
The genus.Hipposcarus Smith 1956 - hippos (horse). ETYFish
The species.Hipposcarus harid (Forsskål 1775) - Arabic name for this fish. ETYFish
How to recognise it
long sloping snout, noticeably more pointed than any Scarus here
pale gray-pink body, terminal males greener with a blue-edged tail
There is some localized fishing in the Red Sea but this is not considered to affect the overall population of the species.
Parrotfishes show varying degrees of habitat preference and utilization of coral reef habitats, with some species spending the majority of their life stages on coral reefs, while others primarily utilize seagrass beds, mangroves, algal beds, and /or rocky reefs. Although the majority of the parrotfishes occur in mixed habitat (primarily inhabiting seagrass beds, mangroves, and rocky reefs) approximately 78% of these mixed habitat species are experiencing greater than 30% loss of coral reef area and habitat quality across their distributions. Of those species that occur exclusively in coral reef habitat, more than 80% are experiencing a greater than 30% of coral reef loss and degradation across their distributions. However, more research is needed to understand the long-term effects of habitat loss and degradation on these species populations. Widespread coral reef loss and declining habitat conditions are particularly worrying for species that depend on live coral reefs for food and shelter especially as studies have shown that protection of pristine habitats facilitate the persistence of adult populations in species that have spatially separated adult and juvenile habitats. Furthermore, coral reef loss and declining habitat conditions are particularly worrying for some corallivorous excavating parrotfishes that play major roles in reef dynamics and sedimentation (Comeros-Raynal et al. 2012).
Threat classification from the IUCN Red List.
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