Hipposcarus harid

Hipposcarus harid, the Longnose parrotfish or Candelamoa parrotfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a parrotfish from the family Scaridae found on coral reefs of Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.[2][3]

Hipposcarus harid
Sleeping Hipposcarus harid from the Red Sea, Egypt
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Labriformes
Family: Scaridae
Genus: Hipposcarus
Species:
H. harid
Binomial name
Hipposcarus harid
(Forsskål, 1775)
Synonyms[2]
  • Scarus harid Forsskål, 1775
  • Callyodon harid (Forsskål, 1775)
  • Scarus cyanurus Valenciennes, 1840
Closeup of sleeping Hipposcarus harid at Shaab Mahmoud (Red Sea, Egypt)

Distribution

Hipposcarus harid is found in the western Indian Ocean from the Red Sea south to the Mozambique Channel, including Madagascar, the Seychelles and east to Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the Chagos Islands.[2]

Habitat and biology

Hipposcarus harid occurs in coastal regions and is associated with coral reefs and reef flats. This species forms harems comprising a terminal phase, or male, individual and numerous initial phase individuals. It will also form large schools for foraging.[1] H. harid is a protogynous hermaphrodite in which there are two distinct phases, an initial phase which includes females and primary, that is males which were born male, and a terminal phase, the secondary males transformed from females.[4] It is an oviparous species in which the male and female form pairs for mating. It feeds on benthic algae.[2]

Human usage

Hipposcarus harid is caught with nets and other artisanal gear, the catch is maistly marketed fresh.[1] Each year in April these fish aggregate in a shallow lagoon in the Farasan Islands in the southern Red Sea. The reason for this aggregation is unknown but the local people celebrate a festival, called Hareed, catching the fish for prizes. Almost all the fish are caught but the aggregation returns each year.[5] Evidence for the consumption and trade of this species, among other parrotfishes native to the Red Sea, goes back to at least the Byzantine period.[6]

References
  1. Choat, J.H.; Carpenter, K.E.; Clements, K.D.; et al. (2012). "Hipposcarus harid". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012: e.T190733A17779418. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012.RLTS.T190733A17779418.en. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). "hippocampus harid" in FishBase. August 2019 version.
  3. WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Hipposcarus harid (Forsskål, 1775)
  4. T. El‐Sayed Ali; A. M. Osman; S. H. Abdel‐Aziz & F. A. Bawazeer (2010). "Growth and longevity of the protogynous parrotfish, Hipposcarus harid, Scarus ferrugineus and Chlorurus sordidus (Teleostei, Scaridae), off the eastern coast of the Red Sea". Journal of Applied Ichthyology. 27 (3): 840–846. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0426.2010.01566.x.
  5. Julia Spaet (2013). "Predictable annual aggregation of longnose parrotfish (Hipposcarus harid) in the Red Sea". Marine Biodiversity. 43 (3): 179–180. doi:10.1007/s12526-013-0162-7. S2CID 9153829.
  6. Rachel Blevis; Guy Bar-Oz & Irit Zohar (2019). "The role of Red Sea Parrotfish (Scaridae) as Trade Indicators in the Negev Desert during the Byzantine-Islamic Transition Period". International Council for Archaeozoology.


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