Arabian doctor fish
| Arabian doctor fish | ||||||||||||
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Arabian surgeonfish ( Acanthurus sohal ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Acanthurus sohal | ||||||||||||
| ( Forsskål , 1775) |
The Arabian doctor fish ( Acanthurus sohal ), also Sohal doctor fish , is a species from the family of doctor fish (Acanthuridae) and belongs in this to the subfamily of scalpel doctor fish (Acanthurinae) .
distribution
The frequently observed Arabian surgeonfish occurs in the Red Sea and in the Persian (= Arabian) Gulf , where it prefers to live on coral fringing reefs. It usually stays on the surface of the water, it is only very rarely seen in water depths below 10 meters.
Appearance
Like most species of surgeonfish, the Arabian surgeonfish has a longitudinally oval, laterally flattened body. The mouth is terminal and the eyes are relatively high up. The caudal fin is drawn out in a strongly sickle shape, the back and anal fin, on the other hand, are rounded and can be set up when showing off. Dorsal, anal and caudal fins are colored black and each has a blue border. The fish has a black and white line pattern on its flanks. Older male surgeonfish will also develop a forehead lump.
Behavior and food
As a young fish, the Arabian surgeonfish lives either as a solitary animal or in association with juvenile fish of the species gold-spotted surgeonfish and brown bristle -tooth doctor .
As adult fish, the species forms harem areas. Several females live in their own smaller territories; a single male animal patrols these areas on fixed swimming lanes and defends them against conspecifics.
The Arabian surgeonfish in the aquarium
Like most types of surgeonfish, the Arabian surgeonfish is difficult to keep in the aquarium . The fish has a pronounced need to swim, it needs a very large tank and its restless swimming brings a lot of unrest to the fish community kept in the aquarium. It is also incompatible with surgeon fish and, as a fish that forms territory, also with other species.
literature
- André Luty: Doctor fish - way of life - care - species. Dähne Verlag Ettlingen 1999, ISBN 3-921684-61-7
- Andreas Vilcinskas: Marine animals of the tropics. Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-440-07943-0
Web links
- Arabic surgeonfish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Acanthurus sohal inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Choat, JH, McIlwain, J., Abesamis, R., Clements, KD, Myers, R., Nanola, C., Rocha, LA, Russell, B. & Stockwell, B., 2010 . February 2014.