Stoplight parrotfish

Photo: William Hull · CC BY-NC

Stoplight parrotfish are reef engineers: their powerful beaks scrape algae and dead coral from the reef surface, producing the fine white sand that covers Caribbean beaches. A single large male can produce 90 kg of sand per year. At Folkestone the absence of spearfishing has allowed terminal phase males to grow to their full 50 cm length, making this one of the best places in Barbados to observe this species at its most spectacular.