Acanthurus albimento is a very rare new species of surgeonfish from the northwestern Philippines. The new species of Acanthurus is known by the common name of white chin surgeonfish due to a white patch covering most of the lower jaw. The white…
Video of the Huge Surgeonfish at Tang’s Chinese Restaurant
We love big showy pet fish, especially large adult surgeonfish that are in somebody else’s aquarium so we don’t have to go broke trying to feed them. Usually the place to go to see large resident marine aquarium fish is at…
Socotra is a convergence of hybrid reef fish
Socotra is a far flung island of the Western Indian Ocean which is incredibly hard to reach, and even harder to study underwater. A couple years back however, a team of researchers including California Academy of Sciences ichthyology curator and…
Speciation and hybridisation of the Acanthurus nigricans complex
The family Acanthuridae with its six charismatic genera are some of the most beloved and recognisable fish both in the field and in the trade, serving as iconic reef denizens which play important roles in herbivory. The six genera holds…
There’s something fishy with some of the Clown Tangs of the Seychelles
Part of the excitement about being a fancier of marine life is the ability to follow leads of curiosity, no matter how improbable the odds of success in finding something meaningful, even when you don’t really know what you are…
The Mauritian Zebra Tang is so much more than a fancy convict
Acanthurus polyzona, aka the Zebra Tang from Mauritius and the Western Indian Ocean has been a book fish that we thought we would never see with our own eyes for so long, we had all but given up ever seeing one in…
The Zebra Tang has come to US and UK aquariums
The Zebra tang, aka Acanthurus polyzona is a very rare “book fish” which we’ve covered before from a distance, but this story is about some good news for aquarists. After about two years of poking, prodding, begging, pleading and insisting,…
Acanthurus polyzona, a little known species similar to convict tangs
Acanthurus polyzona is a very seldom seen fish that closely resembles the obscenely common Acanthurus triostegus, more commonly known as the Convict Tang. Unlike the Convict Tang, A. polyzona is a Western Indian Ocean species and can be found in…
Powder blue tang hybrid with Acanthurus bariene is a unique one-of-a kind surgeonfish
Acanthurus leucosternon, more commonly known as the powder blue surgeonfish is a rather promiscuous species as far as surgeonfishes go. Although hybrids between surgeonfishes are uncommonly documented, there are some well known examples involving the powder blue surgeonfish. South Africa’s…
Acanthurus nigros: an old species is resurrected by genetics
Acanthurus nigros is not a ‘new’ species but yet it has now been resurrected to name a gentically distinct yet identical-looking species to Acanthurus nigroris. Acanhturus nigros is the name that was originally used for the Bluelined Surgeonfish when it…
