SCARIDAE Scarus tricolor, 14.5 cm SL (initial phase; photo by Ukkrit Satapoomin) Scarus tricolor (initial phase; photo by Ukkrit Satapoomin) Scarus tricolor (terminal phase; photo by Ukkrit Satapoomin) Scarus tricolor Bleeker, 1847 Tricolor Parrotfish D IX, 10; A III, 9; P1 14-15; GR 47-56. Teeth fused to form dental plates; dental plates relatively smooth; lips covering about two-thirds of dental plates; 1-2 canines posteriorly on upper dental plates, none on lower; 3 rows of scales on cheek; median predorsal scales 5-7. Color: initial phase with upper half of body dark purplish to blackish, shading to blue-green and blue on lower side, and to orange-yellow ventrally; edges of scales blackish; head and thorax blackish; in life, top of head may be broadly pale greenish yellow; iris yellow; dorsal fin blackish, suffused with light red; anal fin orange-yellow; caudal fin light red. Terminal phase green with scales edged in pale salmon-pink; head dull lavender, suffused with green dorsally above a horizontal green band at level of lower edge of orbit; cheek and operculum orangish; a green band from front of snout through upper edge of eye to upper end of gill opening; upper lip edged with salmon-pink; lower lip edged with blue-green, followed by a transverse salmon-pink band, then a transverse blue-green band; dorsal and anal fins with blue margins, a broad median band of light salmon-pink and a narrow green basal band; caudal fin blue-green with a submarginal band of lavender-pink in each lobe. Size: maximum length about 55 cm. Distribution: Indo-Pacific. Remarks: found in coral rich areas of lagoon and seaward reefs.