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The mouth of a Parrotfish is a sharp beak known as the “Pharyngeal Grille” which the parrotfish uses to scrape algae off the reef and crunch up coral.  The beak is made up of hundreds of hexagonal cells that regenerate, growing out from the fish’s gums.  As the fringes of the beak break away, new cells push forward so the parrotfish always has plenty of beak for scraping and crunching its favorite foods.
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The mouth of a Parrotfish is a sharp beak known as the “Pharyngeal Grille” which the parrotfish uses to scrape algae off the reef and crunch up coral.  The beak is made up of hundreds of hexagonal cells that regenerate, growing out from the fish’s gums.  As the fringes of the beak break away, new cells push forward so the parrotfish always has plenty of beak for scraping and crunching its favorite foods.

    • #parrotfish
    • #beak
    • #pharyngeal grille
    • #portland
    • #aquarium
    • #portlandaquarium
  • 3 months ago
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We are the brand new Portland Aquarium located in Milwaukie Oregon! We are the most interactive aquarium on the West Coast providing many opportunities for visitors to feed, touch, and interact with marine animals from all across the globe.

This blog is updated by the aquarium's education staff. Check back daily for new facts and photos from Portland's newest attraction!

Our official website is http://www.portlandaquarium.net
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