Dusky Surgeonfish, Acanthurus nigrofuscus (Forsskål 1775)

Other Names: Blackspot Surgeonfish, Brown Surgeonfish, Brown Tang, Dusky Surgeon, Lavender Tang, Spot-cheeked Surgeonfish

A Dusky Surgeonfish, Acanthurus nigrofuscus, at Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, February 2016. Source: John Turnbull / Flickr. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Summary:

A brown to purplish or bluish-brown surgeonfish with small orange spots on the head and chest, a black spot at the rear of the dorsal and anal fin bases, a narrow pale blue margin on the dorsal and anal fins, a black margin around the caudal peduncle blade, and a slightly concave head profile.
Video of a mass spawning of Dusky Surgeonfish(aka Brown Surgeonfish) on the Far Northern Section of the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland.

Cite this page as:

Acanthurus nigrofuscus in Fishes of Australia, accessed 24 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/2189

Dusky Surgeonfish, Acanthurus nigrofuscus (Forsskål 1775)

More Info

Distribution	Widespread in Australia from Rottnest Island to the Dampier Archipelago, and offshore reefs of Western Australia, Ashmore Reef, Timor Sea, and the far northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, and reefs in the Coral Sea, to Jervis Bay, New South Wales, with juveniles further south. Also at Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean, the Lord Howe Islandregion and Norfolk Island in the Tasman Sea. Elsewhere the species is widespread in the Indo-west-central Pacific. A common and abundant surgeonfish on reefs throughout most of its distribution range. Small groups of this relatively small, aggressive surgeonfish inhabit sheltered coral and rocky reefs, often around bommies - in depths from the surge zone to about 25m. May form large schools in some oceanic areas.
Features	Dorsal fin IX, 24-27; Anal fin III, 22-24; Gill rakers on first arch: anterior row 20-24, posterior row 18-23.
Colour	With or without fine bluish gray longitudinal lines on body; pale pectoral fins with upper edge narrowly black; pelvic fins brown. Lips blackish brown; median upper teeth tend to be pointed. Dorsal fin base with a prominent black spot larger than 1/2 eye diameter; a smaller spot on base of anal fin. Groove of caudal spine encircled with a narrow black margin.
Feeding	Dusky Surgeonfish feed mostly on algae, using their teeth to crop reef-grown algal turfs (Tebbett et al. 2017).
Similar Species	The similar Lined Bristletooth, Ctenochaetus striatus, lacks spots at the rear of the dorsal and anal fins.
Species Citation	Chaetodon nigrofuscus Forsskål 1775, Descriptiones Animalium: xiii, 64. Type locality: Djedda, Red Sea.
Resources	Australian Faunal Directory

Dusky Surgeonfish, Acanthurus nigrofuscus (Forsskål 1775)

References

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