Naso brevirostris

Spotted unicorn fish | Longnosed Unicornfish | Palefin Unicornfish
Naso brevirostris
Naso brevirostris, adult, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, QLD, Photo: Andrew Green
Naso brevirostris
Naso brevirostris, Coral Sea, Australia, Photo: Graham Edgar
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Naso brevirostris
Naso brevirostris

Distribution

Temperate Australasia, Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

Dark grey, often with broad pale bar on side behind pectoral fin, long tapering horn, spots and diagonal lines on head, narrow vertical bands on body that break in to spots on underside and pale tail with round dark patch at centre, and straight or convex rear margin.


Information

Max Size: 60 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 19.9-31.3°C

Depth: 2-122m

Habitat Generalization Index: 14.98

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: Frequent (15.4% 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: Many (10 per transect)

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


Edit by: Joe Shields