Sealife guideThe orangeband surgeonfishAcanthurus olivaceus

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.

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

Japanese surgeonfish
(Acanthurus japonicus)

Palelipped surgeonfish
(Acanthurus leucocheilus)

Yellowfin surgeonfish
(Acanthurus xanthopterus)

Powder blue tang
(Acanthurus leucosternon)

Ocean tang
(Acanthurus bahianus)

Mimic surgeonfish
(Acanthurus pyroferus)

Striped surgeonfish
(Acanthurus lineatus)

Sohal surgeonfish
(Acanthurus sohal)

Within the same family

Humpback unicornfish
(Naso brachycentron)

Orangespine unicornfish
(Naso lituratus)

Bluetail unicornfish
(Naso caeruleacauda)

Paletail unicornfish
(Naso brevirostris)

Kole tang
(Ctenochaetus strigosus)

Sailfin tang
(Zebrasoma velifer)

Indian sailfin surgeonfish
(Zebrasoma desjardinii)

Palette surgeonfish
(Paracanthurus hepatus)

Explore also

Giant trevally
(Caranx ignobilis)

Whitebelly damselfish
(Amblyglyphidodon leucogaster)

Slender grouper
(Anyperodon leucogrammicus)

Wolf eel
(Anarrhichthys ocellatus)

Redtail butterflyfish
(Chaetodon collare)

Rusty parrotfish
(Scarus ferrugineus)

Connemara clingfish
(Lepadogaster candolii)

Roman seabream
(Chrysoblephus laticeps)

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