Sealife guideThe orangeband surgeonfishAcanthurus olivaceus

Last updated on 09/05/2024 at 09:40 PM

Taxonomy

Common name: Orangeband surgeonfish
French name: Poisson chirurgien olive à bande orange, chirurgien à épaulettes, chirurgien gendarme (Polynésie)
Scientific name: Acanthurus olivaceus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Family name: Acanthuridae
Order name: Acanthuriformes
Class name: Actinopterygii

Description

The orangeband surgeonfish, as its name suggests, has a dominant greenish-brown color with a distinctive large, horizontally elongated oval orange patch that starts behind its eye and ends in a blue-violet comet-shaped tail in the middle of its body.

The orangeband surgeonfish (Acanthurus olivaceus) © Rickard Zerpe sous licence Creative Commons

A thin light-colored border outlines its long dorsal and anal fins.

The orangeband surgeonfish is a modest-sized fish, reaching about 8 inches in length when fully grown.

Geographic range

The orangeband surgeonfish is found in the tropical waters of the central Pacific ocean and also in the Indian ocean around the coral reefs of Mauritius.

Diet

Like most surgeonfish, the orangeband surgeonfish is primarily herbivorous. It feeds on algae and detritus scraped from the surfaces of coral reefs and rocky bottoms using its beak-shaped mouth.

Did you know ?

As an herbivore, the orangeband surgeonfish helps maintain healthy coral reefs by controlling algae growth.

The orangeband surgeonfish is listed as many other marine species within The IUCN Red List of threatened species. The orangeband surgeonfish appears in the IUCN Red List since 2012 within the category Least Concern !

Within the same genus

Black-spot surgeonfish
(Acanthurus bariene)

Blue tang surgeonfish
(Acanthurus coeruleus)

Doctorfish
(Acanthurus chirurgus)

Japanese surgeonfish
(Acanthurus japonicus)

Powder blue tang
(Acanthurus leucosternon)

Sohal surgeonfish
(Acanthurus sohal)

Striped surgeonfish
(Acanthurus lineatus)

Yellowmask surgeonfish
(Acanthurus mata)

Within the same family

Bluetail unicornfish
(Naso caeruleacauda)

Humpback unicornfish
(Naso brachycentron)

Indian sailfin surgeonfish
(Zebrasoma desjardinii)

Kole tang
(Ctenochaetus strigosus)

Orangespine unicornfish
(Naso lituratus)

Paletail unicornfish
(Naso brevirostris)

Palette surgeonfish
(Paracanthurus hepatus)

Sailfin tang
(Zebrasoma velifer)

Discover also

Dragonface pipefish
(Corythoichthys haematopterus)

Greater amberjack
(Seriola dumerili)

Sergeant baker
(Latropiscis purpurissatus)

Six line wrasse
(Pseudocheilinus hexataenia)

Suckerfish
(8 espèces)

Two spined angelfish
(Centropyge bispinosa)

Valentin's sharpnose puffer
(Canthigaster valentini)

Yellowstriped cardinalfish
(Ostorhinchus cyanosoma)

Our latestUpdates

Friday, August 28th 2026

The skunk cleaner shrimp

Discover the skunk cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis), a small tropical shrimp famous for cleaning parasites and debris from reef fish.

Wednesday, August 26th 2026

The islands of Japan: an archipelago of a thousand faces

Discover the islands of Japan, a vast archipelago with diverse landscapes ranging from volcanic islands and tropical beaches to traditional villages and the major islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

Monday, August 24th 2026

The common European lobster

Discover the common European lobster (Homarus gammarus), a large crustacean found in the cold and temperate coastal waters of the Northeast Atlantic. Learn about its distinctive features, habitat, diet, and fascinating reproductive biology.

Photo of the Day

Carangue bleue
(Caranx melampygus)