Acanthurus triostegus, Convict surgeonfish : fisheries, aquarium

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Acanthurus triostegus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Convict surgeonfish
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Acanthurus triostegus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Acanthurus triostegus (Convict surgeonfish)
Acanthurus triostegus
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Acanthuriformes (Surgeonfishes) > Acanthuridae (Surgeonfishes, tangs, unicornfishes) > Acanthurinae
Etymology: Acanthurus: Greek, akantha = thorn + Greek, oura = tail (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 0 - 90 m (Ref. 9710), usually 0 - 90 m (Ref. 27115). Tropical; 26°N - 36°S, 25°E - 85°W (Ref. 57245)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Indo-Pacific: throughout the region except for the seas around the Arabian Peninsula. Eastern Pacific: lower Gulf of California to Panama, including the Revillagigedo, Cocos, Clipperton, and Galapagos islands.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 8.8  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 27.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3145); common length : 17.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9267)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 9; Dorsal soft rays (total): 22-26; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 19 - 22. Body olivaceous gray, with 4 vertical stripes (1 stripe on head across the yellow eye; 1 on caudal peduncle); shading to white ventrally, often with a sharp line of demarcation. Sharp, forward-pointing, erectile spine on each side of caudal peduncle which folds down into a groove. Scales minute. Teeth with denticulations on sides and top. Gill rakers 18-22 in anterior row, 19-24 in posterior row.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Adults occur in lagoon and seaward reefs with hard substrate; young abundant in tide pools (Ref. 3145, 48637). Benthopelagic (Ref. 58302). Often feeding near freshwater run-offs where certain algae grow on rocks that are grazed (Ref. 48637). Occasionally form schools; feed on filamentous algae in large aggregations. During spawning, clouds of eggs and sperm are preyed upon by eagle rays which are often present during spawning. Form spawning aggregations (Ref. 27825). Size of metamorphosis from post-larva stage to juvenile is 3.2 cm (Ref. 9267). Utilized as a food fish (Ref. 7364). Minimum depth reported taken from Ref. 27115.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Form spawning aggregations (Ref. 27825).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Randall, John E. | Collaborators

Randall, J.E., 1956. A revision of the surgeonfish genus Acanthurus. Pac. Sci. 10(2):159-235. (Ref. 1920)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 04 May 2010

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Reports of ciguatera poisoning (Ref. 4690)





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 23.4 - 28.9, mean 27.6 °C (based on 2614 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02399 (0.01950 - 0.02951), b=2.96 (2.92 - 3.00), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  2.8   ±0.35 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 3.1 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.35; tm=1-2).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (16 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Low to moderate vulnerability (29 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 71.8 [30.1, 215.7] mg/100g; Iron = 0.884 [0.331, 2.244] mg/100g; Protein = 18.5 [17.4, 19.6] %; Omega3 = 0.128 [0.057, 0.283] g/100g; Selenium = 23.5 [8.3, 74.2] μg/100g; VitaminA = 32.8 [8.6, 116.6] μg/100g; Zinc = 2.55 [0.81, 4.65] mg/100g (wet weight);