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

Blue tang surgeonfish
(Acanthurus coeruleus)

Japanese surgeonfish
(Acanthurus japonicus)

Mimic surgeonfish
(Acanthurus pyroferus)

Ocean tang
(Acanthurus bahianus)

Palelipped surgeonfish
(Acanthurus leucocheilus)

Powder blue tang
(Acanthurus leucosternon)

Sohal surgeonfish
(Acanthurus sohal)

Yellowfin surgeonfish
(Acanthurus xanthopterus)

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

Arcfin shrimpgoby
(Amblyeleotris arcupinna)

Blotched picarel
(Spicara maena)

Eightband butterflyfish
(Chaetodon octofasciatus)

Goldback damselfish
(Pomacentrus nigromanus)

Highfin coral grouper
(Plectropomus oligacanthus)

Pygmy seahorse
(Hippocampus bargibanti)

Sergeant major
(Abudefduf saxatilis)

Yellowmouth barracuda
(Sphyraena viridensis)

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