Tropical beaches are made by Parrotfish
Indian Ocean Steephead Parrotish curiously inspecting the photographer. Tropical beaches made by Parrotfish. Did you know that all those beautiful, perfect white sand beaches are beaches are actually created by fish? Or, to put it more mundanely β parrotfish pooh! Any doubt as to the truth in that remark? Well next time you swim, snorkel or scuba dive in a perfect tropical ocean, just take a look at those amazingly huge teeth on the aptly named parrotfish.
Ember Parrotfish munching on the coral reef. The clue is in the name, they have incredible beak-line protruding teeth which appear terrifyingly ominous but actually are used for munching on corals. They utilize their amazing teeth to rasp on dead corals and other rock formations within coral reefs. On most other animals, this would wear down their teeth leaving them unable to feed, however this is not the case for our intrepid beach creators.
Fiery coloured Heavybeak Parrotfish displaying its unique teeth. Parrotfish teeth grow continuously in a tightly packed mosaic pattern giving them the ability to feed on hard rocks and corals unimpeded.
Symbiosis
Daisy Parrotfish nibbling on Acropora Corals. Their relationship of Parrotfish with the reef is partially symbiotic. It sometimes appears worrying when the reef disappears in front of your eyes as their large aggressive teeth rasp destructively upon beautifully artistic coral formations within a reef. Indeed much of the diet of a Parrotfish may appear to cause devastation to the worlds reefs. However, appearances can be deceiving as this is not entirely the full situation. Nature has evolved to develop an intricate web of facets to the relationship, both above and below the sea.
Open wide - Candelamoa Parrotfish displaying its teeth, waiting for the removal of parasites at a reef cleaning station. The rampant feeding of a Parrotfish on coral reefs actually prevents algae, sponge and seaweed overgrowth within the reef biome (biomes are a distinct biological community of plants and animals), thus helping to preserve the corals. Even more importantly, everything they consume that is not edible is excreted in the form of tiny grains of sand. These tiny grains over the centuries have formed those amazing tropical islands we all dream of with their beautiful palm trees and perfect white sandy tropical beaches.