The coral reefs in the Kenting area, the southern tip of Taiwan, has the highest marine diversity in the coastal of Taiwan. Parrotfishes slay one of the most important role in the coral reef ecosystems. However, because rapid change of environment and the overfishing problem have treatened the populations of parrotfishes. Thus the studies of their life history and egg classification are needed for the in resources conservation. There are two puposes to do this research. One is to know the species composition and their temporal and spacial distribution of the spindle-shaped
parrotfish eggs (Scarus, Chlorurus, Hipposcarus) around the waters of Kenting based on the morphological identification of eggs by using light microscope ( LM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results shown that spindle-
shaped parrotfish eggs could be classified into three types by LM, and then further distinguished into 2 other types from the Type2 and Type3 with the position of micropyle by SEM. The classification result shown that there is no seasonal variation in the number of eggs during Sept. 1999 to Mar. 2002, but one bloom was observed in Mar. 2000.
The second part of this study is to infer the phylogenetic relationship of the 26 species of parrotfishes. The 12S rRNA sequence of mtDNA showed that the following 7 generas were genetically differentiated: Leptoscarus, Calotomus,
Bolbometopon, Cetoscarus, Hipposcarus, Chlorurus and Scarus. Leptoscarus and Calotomus were grouped into a sister group by Neighbor-joining method. The result was different from the morphological taxonomy. From the same sequence
of mtDNA, Type1 eggs were classified into 5 species: Scarus festivus, S. forsteni, S. rubroviolaceus, S. niger and S. psittcaus. All of Type2 eggs are matched to S. prasiognathos, and the Type3 eggs are matched to S. rivulatus or
S. frenatus. In conclusions, the should be the only way to species identify.
