Sailor's Choice

This species has a dull head with a medium-to-small-sized mouth. It does not have fleshy lips, and a part of the eye near the back is covered by scales. Its chin has two small openings and one furrow in the middle. The eye's edges are commonly either yellow or bronze. In color, adults are a mixture of silver and grey covered with dotted black stripes running laterally. Juveniles have four black stripes over white and a spot on their tail fin. The maximum length recorded is 41.2 cm (16.2 in).

Haemulon parra is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean, from Florida to Brazil, also entering the Gulf of Mexico.

The sailor's grunt prefers reefs and hard bottoms, and resides in depths from 0–80 m (0–262 ft). Juveniles are more attracted to seagrass beds. Adults are known to school and can be seen in more open areas. It feeds at night, eating mollusks and fish.