With 52 currently recognised extant species,[3] it is by far the largest parrotfish genus.

The vast majority are found at reefs in the Indo-Pacific, but a small number of species are found in the warmer parts of the eastern Pacific and the western Atlantic, with a single species, Scarus hoefleri in the eastern Atlantic.

[3] There are currently 52 recognised species in this genus:[3] In Cesare Ripa's Renaissance iconography, the scarus fish symbolised civil "Union," i.e. the joining of individuals into a collective body.

Plutarch had written that scarus fish "swim together in shoals and ingeniously and heroically free each other when caught in a net."

The scarus thus "denoted reciprocal assistance in the fight for survival.