Sparisoma cretense

The Mediterranean parrotfish feeds primarily on epilithic and coralline algae, but may also take epiphytic algae (growing on seagrass) and small invertebrates. The jaws and dentition are specially adapted to this feeding. It primarily breeds during the summer, from July to September, The pelagic eggs hatch into free-swimming larvae. The pelagic stage for the eggs and larvae is 50–60 days in Sparisoma parrotfish, after which they settle on rocky reefs and among seagrass. ==Appearance==

As its relatives, this parrotfish starts as female and then changes to male (known as the terminal phase). However, unlike most of its relatives, it is a secondary gonochorist. This means that some females do not change sex (they remain females throughout their lives), the ones that do change from female to male do it while still immature (reproductively functioning females do not change to males) and there are no males with female-like colours (known as initial phase males in other parrotfish). Juveniles less than long are mottled with a yellowish head and have undifferentiated gonads (not male or female). Immatures that are long are mottled brownish and have immature female gonads (ovaries). Adults reach a maximum length of about , but most are long. There is an almost complete overlap in the sizes of the adult females and adult males, although the former are on average smaller than the latter. ==Human usage==

Sparisoma cretense is a quarry of spearfishers in the Canary Islands. In other parts of its range it is caught and sold as bycatch. File:Sparisoma cretense Koufonissi juvenile.JPG|Juvenile Sparisoma cretense photographed in Koufonisi, Greece File:Sparisoma cretense Koufonissi.JPG|Immature Sparisoma cretense photographed in Koufonisi, Greece File:Viejas frescas - Port of Playa Blanca - Lanzarote -B13.jpg|Several males and females on sale at a fish market in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain ==References==