FishCommonVisible while snorkeling

Bicolour parrotfish

Cetoscarus bicolor

The Red Sea's giant parrotfish changes outfit three times in its life – from a snow-white, orange-banded baby to a green-patterned giant.

Photo: iNaturalist – (c) Nathan Cook, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Nathan Cook

The bicolour parrotfish (Cetoscarus bicolor) is one of the largest and most spectacular parrotfish on Hurghada's reefs – and under the latest taxonomy a Red Sea endemic, since its Indo-Pacific relatives are now treated as a separate species. The name "bicolour" refers to the juveniles: the few-centimetre babies are snow-white with a broad orange band and a black dot on the head – it is hard to imagine a cuter fish on the reef.

By adulthood the fish transforms completely: females are dark with small pale spots, while the huge terminal males are green, every scale edged with pink-purple scribbles, and their foreheads bulge distinctively. With its powerful beak it bites big chunks out of the coral rock, leaving clearly visible white grazing scars on the stones. Big males hold territories surrounded by a harem of females – and if the male dies, the largest female transforms to take his place.

Around Hurghada you meet it on coral-rich plateaus and slopes: on the reefs of the Giftun Islands and Abu Ramada a giant individual regularly cruises past with its unhurried beak-clacking. You can also see it while snorkeling in the shallower coral gardens, and the photographers' favourite is the white-and-orange juvenile, often hiding among branching corals.

Did you know?

Juvenile and adult bicolour parrotfish look so unalike that early naturalists described them as separate species – nobody believed the snow-white, orange-banded baby was the green giant's own child.

Where can you meet it?

It lives on coral-rich reefs: large individuals are regularly seen on the plateaus of the Giftun Islands, Abu Ramada and El Fanadir, while the white-and-orange juveniles hide among the branching corals.

Frequently asked questions

Terminal males can reach 80 centimetres – and underwater, where everything looks bigger, they appear a metre long. At Hurghada it is one of the largest fish you will meet on an ordinary reef dive.

No: it uses the beak solely for rasping coral rock and is completely peaceful towards people. You can approach it calmly – at most it will drift away at its own leisurely pace.

They hide in sheltered, shallow coral gardens among branching corals – swim slowly and peek under the coral heads for your best chance. You can find them while snorkeling in the Giftun lagoons too.