Mini-fin Parrotfish, Scarus altipinnis (Steindachner 1879)

Other Names: Filament Finned Parrotfish, , Filament Parrot, Filament-fin Parrotfish, Filament-finned Parrot Fish, Filamentfinned Parrotfish, Filament-finned Parrotfish, Green-beak Parrotfish, Green-billed Parrot, High-fin Parrotfish, Highfinned Parrotfish, Minifin Parrotfish

A male (terminal phase) Mini-fin Parrotfish, Scarus altipinnis, on the Great Barrier Reef off Cairns, Queensland, February 2005. Source: Leonard Low / Wikimedia Commons. License: CC by Attribution-ShareAlike

Summary:

Males (terminal phase) are greenish posteriorly with two bluish-green bars on the chin, and spots and lines around the eye, on the cheek and gill cover. Females (initial phase) area brownish with scattered white spots, and small juveniles have a striped to mottled body with a distinctive yellow head.
Adults have a slightly elongated filament on the middle of the dorsal fin, and a lunate tail.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2020, Scarus altipinnis in Fishes of Australia, accessed 25 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/399

Mini-fin Parrotfish, Scarus altipinnis (Steindachner 1879)

More Info

Distribution	Northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, and reefs in the Coral Sea, to Batemans Bay, New South Wales; also Lord Howe Island, Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs in the Tasman Sea. Elsewhere the species occurs on the tropical, west-central Pacific.
Feeding	Feeds mainly on algae.
Similar Species	Although the initial phase ofthe Greencheek Parrotfish, Scarus prasiognathos, is similar to the that of the Mini-fin Parrotfish, terminal phase males differ in having a large green patch on the throat, and also have no elongated spine in the middle of the dorsal fin.
Etymology	The specific name altipinnis is from the Latin altus (= high) and pinna (= fin) in reference to the slightly elongated ray a slightly elongated middle ray in the dorsal fin of terminal phase males
Species Citation	Pseudoscarus altipinnis Steindachner 1879, Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Wien 41(2): 18. Type locality: Kingsmill Islands (= Gilbert Islands), and Hawaiian Islands.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2020
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Mini-fin Parrotfish, Scarus altipinnis (Steindachner 1879)

References

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