Acanthurus bahianus
Ocean Surgeon
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Acanthuridae (Surgeonfishes)
Acanthurus
Acanthurus bahianus (Ocean Surgeon)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Head elevated and straight to level of eye, and moderately convex from eye to dorsal fin origin. Anterior and posterior nares both oval shaped, with a narrow flap on posterior margins. Teeth number 12 to 14 in upper jaw and 14 to 16 in lower jaw. First gill arch has 18 to 24 (usually 20 to 24) gill rakers. Measurements are expressed as percent of SL: head length 29%–32%, snout length 18%–21%, eye diameter 8%–10%, pectoral fin length 28%–30%, body depth 45%–53%. Pectoral fin has 15 to 17 rays. Dorsal fin has nine spines and 23 to 26 rays. Anal fin has three spines and 21 to 23 rays. Caudal fin is emarginate in small juveniles and lunate or deeply lunate in large juveniles and adults, respectively. Pectoral fin relatively long, caudal fin lunate, and blade of caudal peduncle spine outlined with blue pigment.
Color in life is yellowish brown, with faint greenish gray stripes. Caudal fin is olive yellow, with posterior margin bluish white. Dorsal and anal fin margins are bright blue. In preservative, color is tannish brown, with opercular margin, dorsal and anal fin margins, and area around caudal peduncle spine dark brown to black and posterior margin of caudal fin white.
Distribution
In the western Atlantic it occurs from Massachusetts and Bermuda to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles.
Occurs throughout the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Coral reef habitats
Biology
Maximum known size is 360 mm TL
A diurnal species. Maximum depth from Ref. 126840.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2010-05-03. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Randall 1956
Randall 1996
Randall 2002c
Briggs and Caldwell 1957 (as A. randalli, in part)
Böhlke and Chaplin 1968
Sonnier et al. 1976
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Castro-Aguirre and Márquez-Espinoza 1981
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992 (as A. randalli)
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Smith-Vaniz et al. 1999
Desoutter, M. (1990) Acanthuridae. p. 962-964. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2.
Bernal, M.A. and L.A. Rocha (2011) Acanthurus tractus Poey, 1860, a valid western Atlantic species of surgeonfish (Teleostei, Acanthuridae), distinct from Acanthurus bahianus Castelnau, 1855. Zootaxa 2905:63-68.
Macieira, R.M. and J.-C. Joyeux (2009) Length-weight relationships for rockpool fishes in Brazil. J. Appl. Ichthyol. 25(3):358-359. DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0426.2008.01118.x
Simon, T., H.T. Pinheiro, R.L. Moura, A. Carvalho-Filho, L.A. Rocha, A.S. Martins, E. Mazzei, R.B. Francini-Filho, G.M. Amado-Filho and J.-C. Joyeux (2016) Mesophotic fishes of the Abrolhos Shelf, the largest reef ecosystem in the South Atlantic. J. Fish Biol. 89:990-1001. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.12967
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