Parrotfish Are Essential to the Health of Coral Reefs

If it weren't for parrotfish, many tropical beaches would not be there. Much of that fine white sand you see is coral that parrotfish have chewed and passed. These industrious fish spend their lives eating the algae and polyps that live on coral reefs by nibbling the exoskeleton. Parrotfish teeth comprise some of the hardest natural biominerals ever to exist.

The tensile strength (the maximum load that a material can support without fracturing) of a single tooth's surface can withstand 530 tons of pressure per square inch. That's equivalent to the weight of 88 elephants compressed into a single square inch.

A single heavy-beak parrotfish can poop out as much as 2000 pounds of sand annually, and that makes up a significant chunk of the pearly white sands found on Pacific beaches. Some scientists estimate that as much as 70 percent of sand found on beaches in the Caribbean and Hawaii is produced by parrotfish.

As they graze, parrotfish also keep coral uncluttered by eating the algae. Some scientific studies have theorized that parrotfish consumption could be leading to the decline of corals, but much evidence indicates otherwise. Throughout the world, where parrotfish are overfished, corals have become suffocated by seaweeds. (Forbes)