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Chlorurus japanensis

Pale Bullethead Parrotfish

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Pale Bullethead Parrotfish, Japanese Parrotfish; German Fahlbacken-Papageifisch; French Perroquet à Tête Claire, Perroquet à Joue Pâle

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Indonesia - Samoa - ?n.Cooks; n. to s.Japan, s. to Vanuatu

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native?, needs confirmation (might be mis-ID of Redtail Parrotfish ($Chlorurus pyrrhurus@); N.Group. (MH) PLUS: MH only (Sims); Marine, near-shore, lagoon and outer reef-slope; 2-20m

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Low interest.

KEY FEATURES: To 28cm SL., TP-Male sex reversed female. IP tail square, colour uniformly dark brown with orange-brown tail. TP-MALE blue with pale green sides with dark diagonal bar behind gill covering; body scales with pink bar; cheeks cream.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Easily confused with Bullethead Parrotfish (Chlorurus sordidus) and Redtail Parrotfish (Chlorurus pyrrhurus).

Enlarged Image of 'Chlorurus japanensis'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: - Makatea: -
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
	P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Chlorurus japanensis (Bloch, 1789)
SYNONYMS: Callyodon japanensis [O]; Scarus japanensis

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Perciformes; Labroidei; SCARIDAE, Scarinae

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Manihiki: field ID, mod. common, lagoon ID N.Sims (Sims88), needs confirmation that these are not Redtail Parrotfish (Chlorurus pyrrhurus).

References:
Special Reference: Randall and Choat, 1980.

p.492 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 106-07 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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