A green humphead parrot fish, the largest and very rare species of parrot fish, was recently photographed in the Gulf of Thailand, near Losin Island off Pattani province, according Assistant Professor Dr. Thon Thamrongnawasawat, Thailand’s leading marine expert at the Fisheries Faculty of Kasetsart University.

The fish can grow to a length of 1.5 metres, weighing about 75kg, and lives for about 40 years, he said, adding that it can only be found in Indian and western Pacific oceans.

The outstanding feature of green humphead parrot fish is that it controls the amount of seaweed in the sea and creates sand, up to about five tonnes a year, which is several hundred times more than other species of parrot fish.

All parrot fish live in schools and forage for food in coral reefs during the day. Thon said that the largest school of humpheads he has encountered, near the Surin islands in the Andaman Sea, contained 17.

He expressed concern, however, that the fish is at risk of becoming extinct due to fishing and threats to its ecological system.