THE PARROT FISH SHOULD NOT FISH

Hello dear friends of Steemit. Today I want to dedicate my post to the conservation of the species, in order to continue celebrating Earth day, so I want to talk about one of the coral fish that fulfill one of the most important roles, to maintain the balance within the ecosystem marine, in this case I refer to the Parrotfish. And for that I will start by quoting a bit of information about him.

The Scaridae or escaros: they are a family of marine fish included in the order Perciformes. They are called parrotfish because of their particular dentition: their numerous teeth are grouped in a compact package fused together in a structure that resembles the beak of the parrots, which they use to gnaw at the coral and rocks, thus removing the algae from which they feed. They are not totally herbivorous, as they also gnaw small invertebrate mollusks that live among the coral. After digesting the pieces of rock and coral they eat, they defecate a byproduct very similar to sand, being an important source of sand that accumulates on the beaches of islands and coral reefs. Many species show striking colorations.

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We must be clear that one of the greatest threats to these marine systems is the overfishing of the species, since every ecosystem must maintain a balance, in this case I refer to corals and algae, which compete for a space to adhere to. Being shown that while this environment is under normal conditions the coral will always win the battle, and that is why coral reefs exist. All thanks to the parrotfish that consumes the algae by decreasing its volume and giving that space to the growth of coral reefs.

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The overfishing of this species generates an opposite effect, to a smaller amount of parrot fish, the greater the volume of algae that will occupy that space, thus changing the reefs by extensive algae meadows, resulting in a place where most of the species They can not protect themselves to survive as they could do with corals.

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Another function of this emblematic fish is that, to feed itself, it bites pieces of coral to extract the algae found there and then defecates everything in the form of sand, causing each fish to produce approximately one hundred kilograms of sand per year. All this they do thanks to their great dentures, and having a life time of about 20 years, just imagine the amount of sand that could generate, which would serve in turn as a process for the beautification of the beaches.

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For environmentalists this situation is increasingly alarming, as fishmongers and supermarkets increasingly offer this product. Well, in Venezuela, no measure has been applied in this regard. With the passing of time the institutions dedicated to regulate these actions allow more uncontrolled fishing of this fish, which in the future will generate catastrophic consequences in the natural resources of our country. I personally think that although the inefficient government we have does not apply the corresponding measures, we as responsible citizens reflect and become responsible consumers. It is important that we already apply ecological actions, we must guarantee resources for our future generations, think about it could be your children.