"Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters. The sea is His, and He made it." Psa. 77:19 and 95:5.
The interesting parrot fish received its name because of its bright green and red colors and its parrot like jaw. Great schools of them, numbering a million or more, live in southern oceans. The mouth of this fish is like a parrot's beak. It has about 50 blue-white teeth which are so strong it can pull apart and chew hard, brittle coral to get at the tasty algae found in it. A mature fish chews enough coral each year to make 30 pounds of sand. Over the centuries this has resulted in many pretty sandy beaches along the shores of Australia and other countries. But, sad to say, much beautiful coral is destroyed by them since they do not distinguish between rare, priceless coral and ordinary coarse varieties.
In June the parrot fish get a strong urge to leave the quiet, shallow, protected reef where they live and swim into areas where the water may be 80 feet deep or more. There they meet with millions more of their kind that have obeyed the, same God-given instinct. They all become excited and soon they are swimming violently around until, as if by signal, all dash to the surface and then immediately turn down toward the bottom. As they descend, the females release millions of eggs which the males cover with a substance called milt.
This procedure is repeated many times by different groups at these meeting places. Soon it is over and the group breaks up, each pair going back to the quiet waters of their home, leaving innumerable masses of eggs to hatch out later on the open sea.
One variety of this fish blows a cocoon of mucus around itself at night time, carefully leaving small holes for breathing. This gives them an appearance of having been carefully dressed in silk nightgowns, which they discard in the morning, repeating the process each night. Although it is uncertain why they do this, it is no doubt a provision made by the Creator for their protection from night-prowling enemies.
Does the Lord God, their Creator, care about parrot fish? We may be sure that He does, for the Bible tells us, speaking of all the fish in the seas, "These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat [food] in due season. That Thou givest them they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good." Psa. 104:27,2827These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. 28That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. (Psalm 104:27‑28).
Of more importance to us, we also know from the Bible that in greater measure His love has been shown to all the people of the world. The Psalmist joyfully expressed, "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand." Psa. 139:17,1817How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. (Psalm 139:17‑18). We should gratefully thank Him every day for His wonderful love and care over us.