COMMON NAMES: Chameleon Parrotfish; German Chamäleon-Papageifisch; French Perroquet Caméléon

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Philippines - Niue - Cooks; n. to s.Japan; s. to Lord Howe

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Lagoons, reef-flats and outer reef-slopes to 30m PLUS: ; Marine, near-shore

KEY FEATURES: To 25cm SL. Lips cover most of dental plates; TP has 1-2 canines on dental plates; IP tail rounded; TP tail lunate. INITIAL PHASE dark brown, ± pale ventrally. TERMINAL MALE green with a dark blue-green band between the eyes, over upper lip and extending below and behind the eye over gill cover and another directly behind the eye; anterior lower body and cheeks pinkish; Dorsal and Anal fins blue with central orange stripe; tail with blue-green rim, with a blue-green reversed-D in the centre. Both phases can alter their colour pattern, hence the name Chameleon Parrotfish.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The drak blue-green band over upper lip and over check below the eye, and onother behind the eye and and another over teh head between the eyes are diistinctive.