 The larvae of the marbled parrotfish are associated with drifting algae.The marbled parrotfish was first formally described as "Scarus vaigiensis" in 1824 by the French naval surgeons and naturalists Jean René Constant Quoy (1790–1869) and Joseph Paul Gaimard (1793-1858) in their book "Voyage autour du monde".The type locality was given as Waigeo.