Short-nosed surgeonfish
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Short-nosed surgeonfish ( Naso unicornis ) |
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| Naso unicornis | ||||||||||||
| ( Forsskål , 1775) |
The Bluespine Unicornfish ( Naso unicornis called), and Blue Blade surgeonfish, is a kind from the family of surgeonfish .
distribution
It lives in the Red Sea as well as in the Indo-Pacific , where it can be seen from the coasts of East Africa to Hawaii and southern Japan . It occurs there in lagoons and in front of steep reefs up to a water depth of 60 meters. Occasionally it can also be seen in caves; however, it is mostly found in reef channels and similar regions with heavily moved water.
Appearance
As with all types of surgeonfish, the short-nosed surgeonfish also has a laterally flattened and elongated oval body. It reaches a body length of up to 70 cm. On his forehead is the horn-like, nose-shaped protuberance, which gives the genus the nose doctor fish . The also common name for this species, blue-bladed surgeonfish, refers to the striking blue horn plates (also known as blades or scalpels) that are located in front of the base of the tail. As with all doctor fish, they only serve as a defensive weapon. There is no clear difference between the sexes. In older males, however, the horn and the blades are often somewhat stronger than in females.
The body color of the short-nosed surgeonfish is gray-blue to gray-brown. On the flank he also wears somewhat darker lengthways bandages.
The horn-like bulge on the head
The thorn-like horn plates in front of the tail root
Short-nosed surgeonfish
behavior
The diurnal short-nosed surgeonfish lives on zooplankton . He is only rarely seen in troops; he lives mostly alone or as a couple.
Aquarium keeping
Due to its maximum body length and its large swimming instinct, the short-nosed surgeon fish is not suitable for normal aquariums. However, the fish is occasionally shown in public show aquariums.
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
- Short-nosed surgeonfish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Naso unicornis inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: McIlwain, J., Choat, JH, Abesamis, R., Clements, KD, Myers, R., Nanola, C., Rocha, LA, Russell, B. & Stockwell, B., 2010 . February 2014.