Acanthurus coeruleus
| Acanthurus coeruleus | |
|---|---|
_(San_Salvador_Island,_Bahamas)_5_(15962615858).jpg) |
|
| Acanthurus coeruleus at San Salvador Island, Bahamas. The coral is Dendrogyra cylindrus. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Acanthuridae |
| Genus: | Acanthurus |
| Species: | A. coeruleus |
| Binomial name | |
|
Acanthurus coeruleus Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801 |
|
 |
|
Acanthurus coeruleus is a surgeonfish found commonly in the Atlantic Ocean. It can grow up to 39 centimetres (15 in) long. Common names include Atlantic blue tang, blue barber, blue doctor, blue doctorfish, blue tang, blue tang surgeonfish, yellow barber, and yellow doctorfish.
Acanthurus coeruleus is common off the coast of Florida, The Bahamas, and other places in the Caribbean Sea, including Bonaire. Blue Tangs are very common in Belize and especially Ambergris Caye. They are also common in the Gulf of Mexico. They are also found south to Brazil and north to New York.
Although the body of the reef fish can vary in shade from light to dark blue, the dorsal, anal and caudal fins are golden blue. As juveniles, the edges on their dorsal and anal fins and the rings around their eyes are purple-blue, blue or blue-green. Their colors change during growth from a yellow juvenile, yellow tailed blue subadult and the blue adult phase.
Acanthurus coeruleus exhibits biofluorescence, that is, when illuminated by blue or ultraviolet light, it re-emits it as green, and appears differently than under white light illumination (see image to the right). Biofluorescence may assist in intraspecific communication and camouflage.
Atlantic blue tangs inhabit coral reefs and inshore grassy and rocky areas, where there is a high prevalence of algae. They are herbivorous, and their diet consists only of algae. They eat the algae from the reefs in which they reside, as well as off the bodies of surrounding fish. By eating the algae off of other fish, the blue tang serve as cleaners for them. With the decline in the Diadema antillarum (sea urchin) population, the blue tang population increased since the algal resources that the two animals usually competed for were more abundant.
...
Wikipedia