Reproductive behavior of the protogynous parrotfish, Calotomus japonicus, was studied on the shallow reef at Kuchierabu-jima Island, southern Japan. The species is sexually dichromatic: females showed the initial phase (IP), and secondary males the terminal phase (TP). Both females and males foraged solitarily or in mixed-species groups in the inshore area in the morning and early afternoon. Large TP males migrated offshore to set up temporary mating territories on the reef slope in late afternoon. They pair-spawned with single females, which migrated there.