Choerodon cephalotes

Purple Tuskfish | Grass Parrot | Grass Tuskfish
Choerodon cephalotes
Choerodon cephalotes, WA, Australia, Photo: Graham Edgar

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

Grey body with purple tint, vertical blue streak extending from rear margin of eye, curved blue streak below eye, thin blue vertical lines on scale centres, blue lines on tail base, and curved dark blotch on side. Blunt rounded head.


Information

Max Size: 38 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 18.2-30.5°C

Depth: 0-10m

Habitat Generalization Index: 0.79

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Occurrence: Infrequent (1.8% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Few (2 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: Joe Shields