Parrot Fishes are among the most colorful creatures in the coral reefs. The name comes from their vivid colors, that resemble the ones of the parrots, and from their beak. They use this beak to bite off pieces of stony coral.
When you are underwater and see one of these fishes feed, you can hear the sound of their beaks crushing the hard corals. They do not feed of the coral external structure, but of the soft bodied structures coral polyps that grow on the surface of the skeleton. When the coral is expelled from the fish's digestive system, it is deposited on the reef as white coral sand. Parrotfishes are day fishes. At night they cover their bodies with a mucous layer, which makes them less visible to preys.
This will be our last underwater photo, we will now visit the streets of Hurghada ...