Parrotfish are well-known for their shimmering beauty. But these colorful reef fish are also notable for a scientific reason. Individuals start out adult life as females, before switching to male later in life. This attribute places parrotfish among the many sequential hermaphrodites of the animal world, organisms that can switch between male and female reproductive organs at different life stages.
Hermaphroditic strategies are common in teleost fish, with some species following a sequential pattern like the clownfish while others maintain male and female gonads simultaneously. Sex in these fish has thus been of immense interest to evolutionary biologists, as the breadth of diversity in this group has led to great advances in our understanding of the evolution of sexual reproduction.
