Acanthurus guttatus

Whitespotted Surgeonfish | Mustard Surgeonfish | Mustard Tang | Spotband Surgeonfish | Spotted Surgeonfish | Spotted Tang
Acanthurus guttatus
Acanthurus guttatus, Niue, Photo: Graham Edgar

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

High, rounded, grey body, light grey bars on face and fore-body, numerous small spots on rear half of body, pale tail with broad black rear margin and yellow pelvic fins. Often forms large schools on wave-exposed reefs.


Information

Max Size: 26 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 23.7-29.8°C

Depth: 0-8m

Habitat Generalization Index: 2.12

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Occurrence: Infrequent (9.5% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Several (9 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: Joe Shields