Powder blue tang (powderblue surgeonfish)
Acanthurus leucosternon
Valid name.
- English
- Powder blue tang (powderblue surgeonfish)
- Scientific
- Acanthurus leucosternon
- Dhivehi
- ނޫކާޅުNoo kaalhu
- Group
- Reef fish
- Maximum size
- About 23 cm (MRS 1997); FishBase lists 54 cm TL, which looks anomalous
- Depth and habitat
- Shallow reef flats and upper reef slopes, 0 to about 25 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2010
Description
An oval surgeonfish with a powder-blue body, a black face with a white throat band, a yellow dorsal fin and a white-edged tail. Like all surgeonfish it carries a sharp scalpel-like spine on each side of the tail base, here marked in yellow. It grazes on filamentous algae on reef flats, sometimes in big schools that overwhelm territorial damselfish. It is restricted to the Indian Ocean.
In the Maldives
Very common on shallow Maldivian reef tops, often in large grazing schools. One of the classic Indian Ocean reef fish.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Acanthurus-leucosternon.html
- fao.org /4/AD471E/AD471E00.htm
- fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=1257&GenusName=Acanthurus&SpeciesName
- dv.wikipedia.org /wiki/ނޫކާޅު
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Pez_cirujano_azul_cielo_(Acanthurus_leucosternon),_Zanzíbar
Dhivehi name source: M.R.S. (1997) Fishes of the Maldives, Marine Research Section, Malé (FAO/BOBP MAG/21); Thaana from Dhivehi Wikipedia (fish articles derived from the MRS 1997 Dhivehi edition). FishBase also lists 'Noo libaas'.