parrotfish
noun
par·rot·fish
ˈper-ət-ˌfish 
ˈpa-rət-
variants
or parrot fish
: any of a family (Scaridae) of usually brightly colored chiefly tropical marine fishes that have the teeth in each jaw fused into a cutting plate resembling a beak
Examples of parrotfish in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Coral reefs face a similar fate: parrotfish, which play a crucial role in controlling algae growth, have seen their populations plummet on the Mesoamerican Reef due to overfishing.
—
Rebecca Shaw, TIME, 9 Oct. 2024
Against these mounting threats, parrotfish can do very little.
—Benji Jones, Vox, 8 Oct. 2024
When moving through a crowd of darting and preening Italians, her presence is anomalous — a sea anemone amid parrotfish.
—Molly Young, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2024
Grunts, parrotfish, groupers, snappers and jacks were particularly popular seafood species.
—Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Jan. 2024
In other words, conserving reefs isn’t just about fixing marine problems, like reducing overfishing to protect critical ecosystem operators like parrotfish.
—WIRED, 9 Aug. 2023
Many species were affected, including cardinalfish, parrotfish, damselfish, and others.
—IEEE Spectrum, 14 Mar. 2019
When the waters south of Miami turned Jacuzzi hot this summer, topping out at 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit in Manatee Bay, scientists agonized over the impact on parrotfish, grunts, spiny lobsters and coral reefs.
—David Ewing Duncan, Scientific American, 8 Sep. 2023
When presented with the parrotfish model, however, the damselfish swam up to inspect it but otherwise did not react to its presence.
—Annie Roth, New York Times, 8 Aug. 2023
Rebecca Shaw, TIME, 9 Oct. 2024
Against these mounting threats, parrotfish can do very little.
—Benji Jones, Vox, 8 Oct. 2024
When moving through a crowd of darting and preening Italians, her presence is anomalous — a sea anemone amid parrotfish.
—Molly Young, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2024
Grunts, parrotfish, groupers, snappers and jacks were particularly popular seafood species.
—Sean Kingsley, Smithsonian Magazine, 11 Jan. 2024
In other words, conserving reefs isn’t just about fixing marine problems, like reducing overfishing to protect critical ecosystem operators like parrotfish.
—WIRED, 9 Aug. 2023
Many species were affected, including cardinalfish, parrotfish, damselfish, and others.
—IEEE Spectrum, 14 Mar. 2019
When the waters south of Miami turned Jacuzzi hot this summer, topping out at 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit in Manatee Bay, scientists agonized over the impact on parrotfish, grunts, spiny lobsters and coral reefs.
—David Ewing Duncan, Scientific American, 8 Sep. 2023
When presented with the parrotfish model, however, the damselfish swam up to inspect it but otherwise did not react to its presence.
—Annie Roth, New York Times, 8 Aug. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'parrotfish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Parrotfish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parrotfish. Accessed 30 Oct. 2024.
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