Pallet surgeonfish
| Pallet surgeonfish | ||||||||||||
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Pallet surgeonfish |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Paracanthurus | ||||||||||||
| Bleeker , 1863 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Paracanthurus hepatus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1766) |
The hepatus ( Paracanthurus hepatus ) is the only kind of genre Paracanthurus to the family of surgeonfish .
description
Pallet doctor fish, like all doctor fish, have “scalpels” or bone blades at the base of the tail. The fish use this for defense.
Pallet surgeonfish are common in the Indo-Pacific from East Africa to Japan and Samoa .
They prefer to live in outer reefs , as young animals in swarms , as adults in pairs or individually. In contrast to other surgeon fish , which are mostly nursery eaters, the pallet surgeon fish hunts for plankton in the open water .
Because of their gorgeous colors, pallet surgeon fish are very popular with marine aquarists, but it is doubtful that they can really be kept species-appropriate with a maximum length of 30 cm .
The pallet doctor fish is particularly recognizable by its egg-shaped body, which is compressed to the side. The long dorsal and anal fins as well as the steeply sloping forehead are characteristic of this species. The body of the pallet surgeonfish is dark blue and has a conspicuous black markings and a yellow caudal fin. His large eyes suggest that he can see perfectly even in dark and cloudy places. It can live to be 20 years old and is about 15-30 cm tall. Males are slightly larger than females.
The pallet doctor fish lives in coastal reefs up to 40 m deep in the Indo-Pacific between corals and crevices. It feeds mainly on algae. Like all doctor fish, it has a scalpel-like thorn on its tail, which is very sharp and serves to ward off enemies.
Pallet surgeonfish are sexually mature at two years of age. The fry live in small groups and hide from predators between corals. Sharks are one of the doctorfish's greatest enemies.
The pallet surgeonfish is considered a poison-free fish, however toxic developments have been observed after a sting in humans. In an incident in Hamburg in 2012, an employee of a zoo trade was seriously injured by the sting of a pallet doctor fish. Stings with fatal effects are not known.
In the media
The pallet doctor fish is best known for the animated film Finding Nemo from 2003. Marlin, an anemonefish in search of his son Nemo, is accompanied by Dorie, a female pallet doctor fish. While Dory is particularly noticeable in the film for her poor memory, Pallet Surgeonfish are not known to have worse memories than other fish. In 2016 the sequel Finding Dory with the famous heroes was released.
literature
- André Luty: Doctor fish: way of life - care - species , Dähne Verlag Ettlingen, 1999, ISBN 3-921684-61-7
Web links
- Hepatus on Fishbase.org (English)
- IT IS
- Paracanthurus hepatus 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.