:Sparisoma
{{Short description|Genus of ray-finned fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range =
| image = Stoplight-parrotfish.jpg
| image_caption = Male S. viride
| taxon = Sparisoma
| authority = Swainson, 1839
| type_species = Scarus abildgaardi
| type_species_authority = Bloch, 1791{{Cof record|genid=1560|title=Sparisoma|access-date=16 February 2020}}
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = See text.
| synonyms = *Callyodontichthys Bleeker, 1861
| synonyms_ref = {{Cof family|family=Scaridae|access-date=16 February 2020}}
}}
Sparisoma is a genus of parrotfishes native to warmer parts of the Atlantic. FishBase recognizes 15 species in this genus,{{FishBase genus | genus = Sparisoma | month = February | year = 2012}} including S. rocha described from Trindade Island in 2010Pinheiro, H. T., J. L. Gasparini & I. Sazima (2010). [http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2010/f/zt02493p065.pdf Sparisoma rocha, a new species of parrotfish (Actinopterygii: Labridae) from Trindade Island, South-western Atlantic.] Zootaxa 2493: 59–65. and S. choati described from the East Atlantic in 2012.Rocha, Brito, and Robertson (2012). Sparisoma choati, a new species of Parrotfish (Labirdae: Scarinae) from the tropical eastern Atlantic. Zootaxa, 3152: 61-67. They are the most important grazers of algae in the Caribbean Sea, especially since sea urchins, especially Diadema, the other prominent consumers of algae, have been reduced in many places by a recent epidemic.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}
The name was proposed by William Swainson as a subgenus of Scarus. Sparus in Latin is a golden-headed fish, and soma means "body". The common spelling Sparisomus is incorrect.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}
Taxonomy
William Swainson described the genus Sparisoma in 1839 and he designated Sparus abildgaardi as its type species, Although the specific name abildgaardi would appear to have precedence over chrysopterum, the latter is the more widely used name and the former was long mistakenly thought to be synonymous with Sparisoma viride.{{cite journal | author1 =Parenti, P. | author2 = J. E. Randall | author2-link = John Ernest Randall | year = 2000 |title = An annotated checklist of the species of the Labroid fish families Labridae and Scaridae | journal = Ichthyological Bulletin of the J. L. B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology | issue = 68 | pages = 1–97 | s2cid = 82180282 | url =https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3f2c/80dcf3cf88a5b8b9b45b7794837a6b3c7139.pdf | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20200211175106/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3f2c/80dcf3cf88a5b8b9b45b7794837a6b3c7139.pdf | url-status =dead | archive-date =2020-02-11 }} The name Sparus abildgaardi was suppressed by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and Scarus chrysopterus was recognised as the type species.{{Cite book | author = J.D.D. Smith | year = 2001 | title = Official Lists and Indexes of Names and Works in Zoology Supplement 1986-2000 | publisher = The International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature | ISBN = 0853010072 | url = https://archive.org/details/officiallistsind2001inte | url-access = registration }}
Biology
The size of parrotfishes of this genus ranges from the rather small-sized S. radians with a known maximum length of {{convert|20|cm|in|abbr=on}} to the large S. viride, which reaches lengths of up to {{convert|64|cm|in|abbr=on}}.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}
Members of this genus are sequential hermaphrodites, starting as females (known as the initial phase) and then changing to males (the terminal phase). However, some males are direct-developing, and these usually resemble the initial phase. These direct-developing terminal-phase males often display different mating strategies. In most species, the terminal phase is more colourful than the initial, but a notable exception to this rule is S. cretense. They use their pectoral fins to move; the caudal fin is reserved for rapid bursts of speed.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}
The genus Sparisoma is fairly successful, but populations have been falling somewhat because of overfishing and other human activities. However, as mentioned above, it is the main grazer of algae. Still, since populations have been falling, the coral reefs may be at risk, because too much algae is deleterious or harmful to coral.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}
Species
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Species !Common name !Initial phase !Terminal phase |
| Sparisoma amplum
(Ranzani, 1842) |Reef parrotfish |
| Sparisoma atomarium
(Poey, 1861) |Greenblotch parrotfish | | |
| Sparisoma aurofrenatum
(Valenciennes, 1840) |Redband parrotfish |
| Sparisoma axillare
(Steindachner, 1878) |Gray parrotfish |
| Sparisoma choati
Rocha, Brito & D. R. Robertson, 2012 |West-African parrotfish | |
| Sparisoma chrysopterum
|Redtail parrotfish |
| Sparisoma cretense
|Mediterranean parrotfish |
| Sparisoma frondosum
(Agassiz, 1831) |Agassiz's parrotfish |
| Sparisoma griseorubrum
Cervigón, 1982 |Caribbean reef parrotfish | | |
| Sparisoma radians
(Valenciennes, 1840) |Bucktooth parrotfish | |
| Sparisoma rocha
Pinheiro, Gasparini & Sazima, 2010 |Rocha's parrotfish | |
| Sparisoma rubripinne
(Valenciennes, 1840) |Redfin parrotfish |
| Sparisoma strigatum
(Günther, 1862) |Strigate parrotfish | | |
| Sparisoma tuiupiranga
Gasparini, Joyeux & Floeter, 2003 |Brazilian red parrotfish |
| Sparisoma viride
(Bonnaterre, 1788) |Stoplight parrotfish |
An alleged fossil otolith of Sparisoma from the Lutetian of France would represent the oldest record of this genus, and of parrotfishes in general. However, more recent studies no longer assign the fossil to this genus.{{Cite journal |last=Bellwood |first=David R. |last2=Schultz |first2=Ortwin |last3=Siqueira |first3=Alexandre C. |last4=Cowman |first4=Peter F. |date=2019 |title=A review of the fossil record of the Labridae |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26595690 |journal=Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. Serie A für Mineralogie und Petrographie, Geologie und Paläontologie, Anthropologie und Prähistorie |volume=121 |pages=125–194 |issn=0255-0091}}
References
{{Commons category|Sparisoma}}
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