Acanthurus coeruleus, Blue tang surgeonfish : fisheries, aquarium, bait

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Acanthurus coeruleus Bloch & Schneider, 1801

Blue tang surgeonfish
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Acanthurus coeruleus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Acanthuriformes (Surgeonfishes) > Acanthuridae (Surgeonfishes, tangs, unicornfishes) > Acanthurinae
Etymology: Acanthurus: Greek, akantha = thorn + Greek, oura = tail (Ref. 45335).
More on authors: Bloch & Schneider.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 2 - 50 m (Ref. 7345), usually 2 - 18 m (Ref. 27115). Tropical; 43°N - 27°S, 100°W - 4°W (Ref. 55165)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Atlantic: New York, USA and Bermuda to the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Ascension Island (Ref. 7345).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?, range 13 - ? cm
Max length : 39.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 36453); common length : 25.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5217)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 9; Dorsal soft rays (total): 26-28; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 24 - 26. A deep-bodied surgeonfish (body depth 1.7 in SL) with a conspicuous yellow caudal spine. Has the most distinctive coloration of all western Atlantic surgeonfishes (Ref. 26938).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Inhabits coral reefs, inshore grassy or rocky areas. Forms small groups (Ref. 26235). Mainly diurnal. Feeds entirely on algae (Ref. 5521). At Fernando de Noronha Archipelago in southwestern Atlantic, juveniles hold cleaning stations together with the doctorfish (Acanthurus chirurgus) and sergeant major (Abudefduf saxatilis) and graze algae as well as pick molted skin and parasites from green turtles (Chelonia mydas). This behavior is preceded by a characteristic inspection usually followed by feeding nips on the turtles’ skin (head, limbs, and tail), as well as on the carapace. The most inspected and cleaned body parts are the flippers (Ref. 51385). Diurnal species (Ref. 3194). It forms resident spawning aggregations in late afternoon after high tide (Ref. 27825, 120681, 120682). The spine on both sides of the caudal peduncle may inflict painful wounds (Ref. 5217). Marketed fresh. Maximum depth reported taken from Ref. 127989.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Randall, John E. | Collaborators

Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p. (Ref. 7251)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 03 May 2010

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Traumatogenic (Ref. 4690)





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial; bait: occasionally
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | GoMexSI (interaction data) | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 23.7 - 28.1, mean 27.4 °C (based on 783 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02570 (0.01558 - 0.04242), b=2.95 (2.81 - 3.09), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  2.2   ±0.00 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.11-0.50).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (59 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 53.4 [22.4, 151.6] mg/100g; Iron = 0.729 [0.281, 1.754] mg/100g; Protein = 18.3 [17.0, 19.5] %; Omega3 = 0.102 [0.047, 0.213] g/100g; Selenium = 19.2 [6.8, 55.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 36.2 [8.8, 136.0] μg/100g; Zinc = 2.59 [0.82, 4.74] mg/100g (wet weight);