It's Better Not To Taste The Rainbow

Something's Fishy

Seafood anyone? Every time we visit my aunt in Florida we always have some type of seafood along our trip. You can find seafood almost anywhere. Some seafood is plentiful and some aren't. There are certain limitations and guidelines fisherman have to follow so they don't over-fish. Over fishing of course does happen because there is still a lot of places where there is no laws or regulations on some type of fish. The parrot fish is a delicious meal to those who live next to tropical waters. Even though it's rarely eaten in the United States, it's considered a delicacy in other countries around the globe. People love it because of it's crab-like flesh. But eating all this parrotfish could cause problems with our coral reef's. 

Not All Fish Eat Each Other

Parrotfish are beautifully colored herbivores. Most of what the parrotfish does is eat algae off coral reefs which counts as 90 percent of their day in the oceans (Boyce). The algae they eat turns into a beautiful white sand they "discharge". Parrotfish are considered "sand machines", as they turn the coral into the sand. The sand they produce can add up to about 100 kilograms of white sand a year! These beautiful fish could create amazing white sands on our beaches over time if they weren't consumed for our pleasure. Parrotfish create a great deal of this sand unlike it's little helpers such as worms, sponges, and oysters. 

"Rainbow Parrotfish" Photo by Collin Davis

Green Isn't Always Good

These fish are the number one consumers for algae along side sea urchins. Parrotfish are considered to be natural cleaners, eating parasites and algae off of coral. As we eat more of this fish we're losing our happy ocean cleaners. As we lose these fish the dazzling coral reefs get overwhelmed and smothered by this green algae. In the article I read, "3 Reasons Why You Should Stop Eating Parrotfish"  by Rachel Boyce, She had stated something extremely eye opening to this subject. She wrote, "Caribbean corals have declined by more than 50 percent since the 1970's and may disappear in the next 20 years as a direct result of the loss of parrotfish". The overgrowth in these coral reefs from the loss of this fish are causing for less resilient ecosystems. 

The Good Green

Tourism is everywhere, from country to country or just state to state. These grand coral reefs bring in people from all walks of life to see the stunning work of mother nature. The Caribbean reefs pull in about $3 billion every year just from tourism and fisheries (Johnson). People come to see these amazing fish at work but as the growing number of lost fish increases people will stop going, as the reefs will be covered in algae. Solving the problem will benefit ecosystems as well as economies. Jamacia also has it's economy affected by these fish. Just like the Caribbean, the tourists come for the reefs. Consuming parrotfish directly affects the economy due to the lack of tourism and dying reefs.                                

                               

Quoy´s Parrotfish Photo by Zsispeo

Lets Help The Helpers 

The number one thing we can do to help our cleaning buddies is protect them and the coral reefs in which they reside. Its shown that the best and healthiest coral reefs are those with larger parrotfish populations as well as regulations that protect these reefs. Over fishing is the main factor in the current health of the coral, NOT climate change or pollution. These cleaning fish are the ones keeping the corals clean and healthy. Protecting the parrotfish and the other small sea life will restore the natural beauty of coral reefs. The main way that can help is putting laws and regulations in place to limit the fishing of parrotfish. Unlike climate change, this issue can easily be solved locally without global coordination or cooperation. Parrotfish help us in a huge way we may have never notice before. Help save our coral cleaners, stop eating parrotfish.

-Paige R.



Works Cited: 

Boyce, Rachel. "3 Reasons Why You Should Stop Eating Parrotfish ." BID,

blogs.iadb.org/carribbean-dev-trends/en/red-snapper-maybe/.

Accessed 16 Dec. 2019.

Davis, Collin. Rainbow Parrotfish. Canva , www.canva.com/photos/

MAC5DXb0RE4-rainbow-parrotfish-great-barrier-reef-queensland

-australia/. Accessed 16 Dec. 2019.

Johnson, Ayana. "To save Coral Reefs, Start with Parrotfish ." National

Geographic , 2 July 2014, blog.nationalgeographic.org/2014/07/02/

to-save-coral-reefs-start-with-parrotfish/. Accessed 16 Dec. 2019.

Zsispeo. Quoy´s Parrotfish. Flickr, 31 May 2017, www.flickr.com/photos/zsispeo

/24034300118. Accessed 16 Dec. 2019.

Blog Citation:

Rousseau, Paige R. "Its Better Not to Taste the Rainbow ." Bogger.com,

     blogger.com, 18 Dec. 2019, pr-enviromentsaves.blogspot.com/2019/12/

     its-better-not-to-taste-rainbow.html. Accessed 18 Dec. 2019.