Chlorurus perspicillatus x sordidus
In 1998 diver Ken Lee speared a colorful 20-inch parrotfish off Sandy Beach, southeastern O`ahu, which he did not recognize. Dr. John E. Randall of Honolulu's Bishop Museum couldn't identify it either. DNA analysis showed it to be different from any other known parrotfish, yet the likelyhood of a new species of large, colorful parrotfish in the Hawaiian Islands seemed remote. Dr. Randall published a photo of this mystery fish in Hawaiian Fishing News for July 1999 (v. 25 n. 6), asking anyone who found another to contact him. When I saw it I remembered a photo of an unusual parrotfish that I had taken in nearby Hanauma Bay in about 1990. At the time I thought it must be an unusual color variation of the Bullethead Parrotfish, Chlorurus sordidus. Digging out my slide I found that it was indeed similar to the mystery fish, but smaller. Dr. Randall compared the photos and concluded that both probably represent hybrids between two Hawaiian parrotfishes—the Bullethead Parrotfish and the endemic Spectacled Parrotfish. Apparently the size and coloration of these hybrids is variable. I have since seen a few more (one at bottom). All were terminal males. No one yet knows what the initial phase hybrids look like.
