Bumphead parrotfish in Los Cabos

How to recognize it

Deep, compressed body with a blunt, slightly rounded tail. The teeth are fused into a beak of two broad plates on each jaw, not covered by the lips. Large fish develop a prominent hump on the forehead. Adults are green to bluish green with dark blue fins, dark spoke-like lines radiating from the eye and a blue beak. Juveniles are tan, with a yellowish tail base and tail fin, blue lines radiating from the eye, blue-edged fins and a blue beak. It has only 2 rows of scales on the cheek; the other Scarus parrotfish in Cabo have 3.

Biology

The bumphead parrotfish is found only in the tropical eastern Pacific, from the southwestern and northeastern Gulf of California to northern Peru, plus the Revillagigedo, Galápagos, Cocos and Malpelo islands. It is a resident of rocky reefs from 1 to 30 m deep. Researchers who sampled it in La Paz Bay and Los Cabos describe it and the bluechin parrotfish as the two dominant reef parrotfish of the Gulf of California.

It is usually seen grazing on rocky reefs in small aggregations. It scrapes the bottom for coralline red algae and probably coral polyps; STRI also lists microalgae, detritus and hard corals in its diet. It can reach 80 cm (31 in).

Seeing them from the boat

The bumphead parrotfish is a fish for snorkelers and divers, not a sport fish. Look for small groups of large green fish grazing over the rocks in shallow water. FishBase notes it is only caught occasionally.

It feeds by biting algae off rock with its beak, so it seldom takes baits or lures. If one is hooked by accident, release it. It is not protected under NOM-059, but sport fishing is not allowed inside Cabo Pulmo National Park.

On the table

Edible. FishBase lists it in commercial fisheries but notes it is only caught occasionally.

Rules & conservation

Not a sport fish. If one is hooked by accident, release it.

Don't confuse it with

The azure parrotfish (Scarus compressus) has a slight forehead hump too, but terminal males are green with orange-brown scale outlines and green spoke-like bands around the eye, and the tail is straight to slightly concave. The bluechin parrotfish (Scarus ghobban) has no hump; terminal males are blue-green on the back with salmon-pink scale edges and a pair of blue bands on the chin. The ember parrotfish (Scarus rubroviolaceus) has a steep snout but no hump, and its males have a deeply forked tail. A big hump and only 2 rows of cheek scales mark the bumphead.

Questions

By Max VargasTop Anglers, Cabo San Lucas · international judge at big game fishing world championships · reviewed October 2026

Sources

• Smithsonian Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific: Scarus perrico
• FishBase: Scarus perrico
• Reef Life Survey: bumphead parrotfish
• Florent's Guide to the Eastern Pacific Reefs: bumphead parrotfish (Cabo San Lucas photo)
• The ETYFish Project: Scarinae etymology
• Melgarejo-Damián et al. 2018, feeding biomechanics of two Gulf of California parrotfishes (Zoomorphology)
• Raymundo Huizar et al. 2015, fish bioerosion at Islas Marietas (Investigación y Ciencia)
• Aburto-Oropeza et al. 2011, fish recovery at Cabo Pulmo (PLoS ONE)
• Smithsonian Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific: azure parrotfish
• Smithsonian Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific: bluechin parrotfish
• Smithsonian Shorefishes of the Eastern Pacific: ember parrotfish
• NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010, 2019 annex (DOF)
• NOM-017-PESC-1994, 2013 amendment (DOF)

Top illustration: Top Anglers. Photos: iNaturalist contributors, credited on each photo.