Читать книгу Diving Indonesia Periplus Adventure Guid онлайн

132 страница из 170

One notable exception to this pattern is the bumphead parrot-fish (Bolbometopon muricatum). All bumphead parrotfish (males, females and juveniles) are a dull green in color. Although parrot-fish have popularly been considered coral-eaters, they are chiefly herbivores, scraping the reef surface to extract the algal turf, not to eat coral polyps. The bumphead parrotfish is an exception, and feeds for the most part on living coral. They are massive beasts which grow to over a meter in length and travel along the reef in groups looking for all the world like squadrons of army tanks, leaving clouds of coral sand in their wakes. Sometimes their crunching can be heard Underwater.

They should not to be confused with the Napoleon wrasse (see above), a superficially similar fish. The bumphead parrot-fish has a more rounded head.

At night, parrotfish secrete a transparent cocoon of mucus in which to- sleep. At first glance such a fragile structure would seem to offer little protection against predators, but at night, most predators hunt with their sense of smell not their eyes, and the cocoon is an effective defense against this.