White banded rhinoceros fish
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White-banded rhinocerosfish ( Naso annulatus ) |
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| Naso annulatus | ||||||||||||
| Quoy & Gaimard , 1825 |
The white-banded rhinoceros fish ( Naso annulatus ), also known as the giant nose doctor fish , is a species from the doctor fish family .
The white-banded surgeonfish is found from the coasts of southern East Africa to Hawaii. The young fish live mainly in the shallow water of lagoons. The adult fish, on the other hand, can usually be found at a depth of 30 to 60 meters on the steep slopes of outer reefs .
The white-banded doctor fish has a laterally flattened, longitudinally oval and bluish-colored body. Most of the individuals have a white spot on the base of the tail. All individuals have two pairs of sharp thorns or scalpels on the base of the tail. Long-nosed surgeonfish can reach a body length of up to 1 meter.
The nose-like elongated frontal cusp, which can reach a length of 10 cm, is striking. It occurs in both sexes and begins to develop as soon as the fish have reached a length of 30 cm. The growth of this hump forces the fish to change its diet, as it prevents the fish from continuing to eat algae from substrates. As the horns grow, the fish therefore switches to plankton as a source of food.
The white-banded surgeonfish 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
- Andreas Vilcinskas; Marine animals of the tropics , Franckh-Kosmos Verlag Stuttgart, 2.000, ISBN 3-440-07943-0
Web links
- White-banded rhinoceros fish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Naso annulatus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Abesamis, R., Clements, KD, Choat, JH, McIlwain, J., Myers, R., Nanola, C., Rocha, LA, Russell, B. & Stockwell, B., 2010 . February 2014.