Masked nose doctor fish
| Masked nose doctor fish | ||||||||||||
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Masked nose doctor fish ( Naso vlamingii ) |
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| Naso vlamingii | ||||||||||||
| ( Valenciennes , 1835) |
The masked nose doctor fish ( Naso vlamingii ), also called Vlamingi nose doctor fish , is a species from the doctor fish family .
The masked-nose doctor fish occurs from the coasts of South Africa to southern Japan, the Great Barrier Reef and Micronesia .
The adult fish can usually be found up to 50 m deep on the steep slopes of coral reefs .
The masked nose doctor fish has a laterally flattened, longitudinally oval and brownish colored body. All individuals have two pairs of sharp thorns or scalpels on the base of the tail. Masked nose doctor fish can reach a body length of up to 70 centimeters. The eponymous color stripe on the eyes, which can be bright blue but also dark brown, is striking. The upper and lower rays of the caudal fin are drawn out and colored blue. Male animals can let the numerous dark brown stripes and dots on their flanks glow bright blue during courtship. They also show this behavior at cleaning stations. This makes the parasites stuck on its skin visible to cleaner fish , which then set about removing the parasites.
The masked nose doctor fish is a diurnal fish. The fry live in schools. Adult fish live mostly in pairs or in small groups.
literature
- André Luty: Doctor fish - way of life - care - species. Dähne Verlag, Ettlingen 1999, ISBN 3-921684-61-7
Web links
- Masked nose doctor fish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Naso vlamingii inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Dominici-Arosemena, A., Molina, H., Robertson, R. & Smith-Vaniz, B., 2010. Retrieved February 5, 2014.