Eating rocks is just one way parrotfish help manage seaweed.

吃石头只是鹦打理海藻一种方式。

You hear the sound of the parrotfish, like the noise of the waves.

你可以听到鹦声音，就像海浪似。

Can you guess what parrotfish and beaches have to do with each other?

你能猜到鹦嘴和沙滩有何必然干系吗？

Through a dynamic system of social networks, parrotfish can convey information to other coral-dwelling fish.

通过一个动态社交网，鹦能向其他珊瑚居民传递信息。

There is nobody talking. You hear the sound of the parrotfish, like the noise of the waves.

你在水下。没有人说。你听到鹦嘴声音，就像海浪声音。

The parrotfish that remain live in much smaller communities.

幸存鹦只得生活在更小群落里。

Then the parrotfish has to get rid of all of the crushed limestone—and there's only one way to do that.

然后鹦嘴要处理掉所有碎石灰石，而它们只有一种处理方式。

But unlike their neighbors, parrotfish can completely remove even the tiniest scraps of seaweed from the ocean floor.

但它和它邻居不一样是，鹦能够从海床上完全移除海藻，甚至是其最小残渣。

Parrotfish, for example, favor the brute force approach.

例如，鹦嘴喜欢采用暴力方法。

Okay, so what does a parrotfish look like?

好，那么鹦嘴长什么样子呢？

Hundreds of butterflyfish, parrotfish, and seahorses darted around her.

数百条蝴蝶、鹦嘴和海马在她周围游来游去。

The lionfish's menu includes herbivores that eat algae, like parrotfish or surgeonfish.

狮子食物包括以藻类为食食草动物，例如鹦嘴和刺尾。

This is where parrotfish come in.

这就是鹦上场时刻了。

Named for their vibrant scales and beak-like teeth, these parrotfish are devouring a particularly crunchy breakfast: rocks.

以他们鲜明鳞片与喙状齿闻名，这群鹦在忙着吃一种特别脆早餐：石头。

A single parrotfish can produce over 380 kilograms of this pulverized coral each year.

一条鹦每年可以产生超过380公斤这种粉碎后珊瑚。

And there just aren't enough herbivores like parrotfish left out on the reefs to mow it all down.

而且，珊瑚礁上剩下像鹦这样植食性生物已经不够多了，无法把所有藻类都吃掉。

In many coral reefs, overfishing has reduced the number of parrotfish, as well as other seaweed eaters, such as surgeonfish and rabbitfish.

很多珊瑚礁中，过度捕捞减少了鹦数量，以及其他吃海藻，例如，刺尾和蓝子。

Parrotfish are a distinctive family of fish species with a tough, bony beak so strong that they can bite through rock and coral!

鹦嘴是一类独特硬骨，骨喙强度足以它们咬碎岩石和珊瑚。

So next time you're lounging on a tropical white-sand beach, maybe think of parrotfish.

所以下次你在热带白沙滩上悠闲地晒太阳时，也许可以想想鹦。

[Jo] Yeah, it sounds kind of slimy; not something I want to sleep in. But parrotfish like it really well.

但是鹦嘴真很喜欢它。