Like the bird with whom it shares a name, the parrotfish lives almost completely in the tropics. The teeth of the parrot fish are perfect for grinding coral into tiny grains of sand. Parrotfish are responsible for creating much of the sand that surrounds a coral reef. Although the sea lamprey is a jawless fish, it can attach its mouth by suction to other fishes. The sandpaper-like tongue of the lamprey scratches the scales and skin off the fish so the lamprey can suck its blood.
Many fish caught from the sea have small round scars from lamprey attacks.
The adult lamprey travels from the sea to the freshwater rivers and streams to lay their eggs. With their suckerlike mouth, the mother and father lamprey remove rocks to dig a shallow hole in the cold, flowing pools of streams. The eggs are laid in the bottom of the hole. Then the parents cover them with more rocks. They hatch into small larvae that live in the mudof streams.