It is hence different from the adult phase, where they lose the black dot on their dorsal fin and as they mature their color shifts to a bright blue body, with a spotted face, and some pink/yellow highlights around the scales.

Because of their pigmentation, juvenile Baltas are known as "black tooth" because they have dark bands and patches that distinguish them from their mature counterparts (Friedlander et al., 2019).Cetoscarus bicolor has a distinct color division between the two phases in its life cycle, which defines its appearance.

Juvenile Cetoscarus bicolor, showing its characteristic white body with black dorsal fin spot and orange eye band.

Cetoscarus bicolor is sexually mature at around three years of age, and the size distribution for a given population tends to show that the largest fish are male due to this lot of alternative gonochorism (Choat & Robertson, 2020).

This is especially beneficial in reef environments since population numbers and sex differentiation can change due to typical disturbances and predation risks (Sadovy et al., 2020).

Juveniles are commonly associated with coral gardens and lagoons since their coloration is white, with a black spot on the dorsal fin and an orange stripe over the eye (Westneat & Alfaro, 2021).

These territories are the coral and rocky ground suitable for removing algae and biofilm from the reef using body scrapes, which is part of their diet (Bellwood & Hoey, 2019).

They called for more studies to define more precise rates of their modern population and their abilities to withstand certain kinds of stress in their surroundings (Froese & Pauly, 2019).

Ensuring the stability of the species and the overall balance of such fragile ecosystems as the Red Sea habitats means the necessity of the further continuation of the conservation programs directed at protecting the reefs.

As for their diet, the Gulf of Mexico's Cetoscarus bicolor mainly feeds on algae, and the species is known to scrape off the rocks and corals using the bottom part of its beak-like dental plates.

One of the major effects of global warming is coral bleaching, particularly for Cetoscarus bicolor, whose habitat or food source is severely degraded (Anthony et al., 2020).

(NBC News, 2020, February 19) In addition to climate change impacts, Cetoscarus bicolor faces other risks, such as pollution, overfishing, and coastal development.

However, pollutants such as farm runoff contain higher nutrients, which can further fuel the coral-harming algae and water quality, further intensifying pressure on the coral systems (Hughes et al., 2021).

In the case that we follow these efforts, the threats above can slowly diminish,  if not it can cause a substantial decrease in the Cetoscarus bicolor population and affecting the diverse coral species and their ecosystems.