REVIEW OF THE PARROTFISHES 

 FAMILY SCARIDAE 



By Leonard P. Schultz 



Introduction 



This review of the parrotfishes of the world was undertaken in 

 order more correctly to identify and understand the relationships 

 of those species encountered during the preparation of volume 2 of 

 U. S. National Museum Bulletin 202, "Fishes of the Marshall and 

 Marianas Islands." It is based principally on the several thousand 

 specimens, together v,'ith many photographs and drawings in color, in 

 the collections of the U. S. National Museum, and on my own color 

 notes and sketches made from live parrotfishes. 



Additional specimens were loaned by Drs. Reeve M.Bailey, Univer- 

 sity of Michigan ; Loren P. Woods, Chicago Natural History Museum; 

 and Norman B. Marshall, British Museum (Natural History). Dr. 

 Robert R. Harry loaned all the material recorded from Ifaluk, Kapin- 

 gamarangi, and Raroai AtoUs. Drs. James Bohlke, Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Howard A. Winn, University of 

 Maryland, and John E. Bardach, University of Michigan, through the 

 loan of their recently collected specimens from Bermuda and the 

 Bahamas, together with their notes and personal observations, made 

 it possible to work out the sexual dichromatism in Scarus croicensis 

 and Sparisoma aurqfrenatum. In late 1953 I was able to study the 

 types of parrotfishes in the British Museum (Natural History), the 

 Indian Museum, in Calcutta, and the Museum National d'Histoire 

 Naturelle, in Paris. To the authorities of these institutions and to 

 my colleagues who have been so helpful I wish to express my apprecia- 

 tion for their kindness. And especially for their cooperation in sup- 

 plying fresh material before the color patterns faded, I extend particu- 

 lar thanks to Vernon Brock, Richard Rosenblatt, and Drs. William A. 

 Gosline, Bruce Halstead, Robert R. Harry, John Randall, Donald 

 Strasburg, and Howard A. Winn. 



For over a century the parrotfishes have been known as one of the 

 most diflficult and confusing families of reef fishes in systematic 

 ichthyology, and no previous attempt has been made to revise them 

 on a world basis. Recognition of species in this family is difficult 

 and in many cases most uncertain. As is true of other reef fishes, 



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