Palette surgeonfish
(Paracanthurus hepatus)
General data
Paracanthurus hepatus has a royal blue body, yellow tail, and black palette design. The lower body is yellow in the west-central Indian Ocean.
It grows to 30 cm (12 in). Adults typically weigh around 600 g (21 oz) and males are generally larger than females.
This fish is rather flat, like a pancake, with a circular body shape, a pointed snout-like nose, and small scales. The blue tang has nine dorsal spines, 26–28 dorsal soft rays, three anal spines, and 24–26 anal soft yellow rays.
The regal blue tang can be found throughout the Indo-Pacific. It is seen in the reefs of the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, New Caledonia, Samoa, East Africa, and Sri Lanka. A single specimen was photographed in 2015 in the Mediterranean Sea off Palestine.
The regal blue tang is one of the most common and most popular marine aquarium fish all over the world. They live in pairs or small groups of 8 to 14 individuals. They can also be found near cauliflower corals on the seaweed side of coral reefs.
