Scarus ghobban
species of fish
Scarus ghobban, also known as the blue-barred parrotfish, blue trim parrotfish, cream parrotfish, globe-headed parrotfish, green blotched parrotfish, yellow scale parrotfish, and bluechin parrotfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish in the family Scaridae.
Distribution
Scarus ghobban is widespread throughout the Indo-Pacific, known from East Africa to Indonesia. It is also present in the Eastern Pacific, occurring in the Galápagos Islands as well as Japan, south to Australia and east to French Polynesia. Recently recorded in 2001 for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea off Israel, following an entry via the Suez Canal, it is now expanding northward in Levantine waters where it remains rare.
Like other reef fish with a pelagic larval phase, regional currents facilitate high levels of gene flow, which in turn create high genetic diversity among the species.
Description
This species is blue-green to green in colour and commonly grows to approximately 46 cm. Its appearance is variable. It may have a central stripe on the dorsal and anal fins that is pink in color. The underside of the body may be pinkish or yellowish. There may be blue markings around the area of the pectoral fin.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Scarus ghobban” is species of fish. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Scarus, ghobban and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2076448. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2001.
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This entry incorporates text from “Scarus ghobban” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.