ABSTRACT

Parrotfishes represent a major coral reef-associated fishery resource to most tropical nations globally. However, this chapter highlights the scarcity of age-based information that has been completed for this group, work that would directly inform fisheries management across many scales. Despite this, much has been uncovered regarding variation in life-history traits between different species as well as within individual species, spanning from regional to near-global scales. Investigations of spatial patterns from available data demonstrate strong and predictable effects on life-history trait values linked to ocean basin history (largest spatial scale), changes in water temperature and seasonality across latitudinal gradients (intermediate scale), and unexpected patterns across small spatial scales driven by habitat, benthic productivity, density-dependent and other biotic or abiotic processes. Because parrotfish assemblages are generally speciose and variably targeted by fishers, detailed age-based life-history information provides a powerful path for understanding species' relative vulnerability to overexploitation. Future studies regarding the demography of parrotfishes are warranted from many regions globally, but this will also require enhanced coordination and collaboration between fisheries research programs.