Naso vlamingii

Naso vlamingii is a species of unicornfish in the surgeonfish family known by the common names bignose unicornfish, scibbled unicornfish, Vlaming's unicornfish, and zebra unicornfish.[1]

Young specimen

Naso vlamingii
Adult in the Maldives
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Acanthuriformes
Family: Acanthuridae
Genus: Naso
Species:
N. vlamingii
Binomial name
Naso vlamingii
(Valenciennes, 1835)

Description

This is a relatively large member of the Acanthuridae, easily reaching 60 centimeters. The adult has tall dorsal and anal fins, vertical blue lines on its sides, and small blue spots dorsally and ventrally. A broad blue band extends from the eyes to the prominent snout. The coloration of the juvenile is a dingy green with blue spots and lips, later turning deeper blue with purple markings. The fish turns mud-brown while sleeping or when frightened, a form of camouflage.

Diet

This fish is mostly herbivorous but will eat small crustaceans such as copepods. In captivity brine shrimp and mysis shrimp. Most of its natural diet is algae.

Range

This tang is found in the Indo-Pacific oceans off the coasts of East Africa, on the islands of the Marquesas and Tuamotu, southern Japan and southern areas of the Great Barrier Reef. It is most often found in association with reefs and coastal lagoons, sometimes in small schools.

Economic value

Naso vlamingii has very little use to commercial fishers but is occasionally available in the marine aquarium industry, where it is a higher-priced, more uncommon tang.

References
  1. Dominici-Arosemena, A., et al. 2012. Naso vlamingii. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. Downloaded on 02 June 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.