No photo available
Whitecheek surgeonfish
Acanthurus nigricans
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Whitecheek surgeonfish
- Scientific
- Acanthurus nigricans
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Reef fish
- Maximum size
- Up to about 36 cm (fork length); max. published weight 6200 g
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 0 to 67 m (usually 2 to 67 m)
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2010
Description
A deep-bodied, dark brown surgeonfish with a white patch below the eye, a yellow band along the dorsal and anal fin bases and a white tail with a yellow bar, reaching about 36 cm. It holds territories on hard bottoms of clear lagoons and outer reefs, grazing filamentous algae.
In the Maldives
FishBase gives its range as the eastern Indian Ocean (Christmas and Cocos-Keeling islands) and the Pacific, so Maldivian records need confirming.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Acanthurus-nigricans.html
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Whitecheek_surgeonfish_(Acanthurus_nigricans)_(29554754868)
Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in MRS 1997 (available chapters), FishBase (country: Maldives) or Dhivehi Wikipedia.