Yellowmask Surgeonfish
Acanthurus mata
Summary 2
Acanthurus mata is a marine tropical fish belonging to the family of the Acanthuridae or surgeonfishes. Its common names are elongate surgeonfish and blue-lined surgeonfish.
Description 3
It is a medium size fish that can reach a maximum size of 50 centimetres (20 in) length. The body has an oval shape and is compressed laterally. Like other surgeonfishes, Acanthurus mata swims with its pectoral fins. The caudal fin has a crescent shape. The mouth is small and pointed.
Its body is streaked with horizontal bluish lines on a brown background color although over time it is able to change colour to become grey-blue overall. A longitudinal yellow stripe runs across the eye and splits in two lines extending anterior the eye. The superior lip is also yellow. The dorsal and anal fin are bluish with a yellow reflection, with the base of the latter underlined by a fine black line. A sharp erectile spine (comparable to a scalpel, thus the species name) at the base of the tail is a defensive weapon.
Sources and Credits
- (c) John Sear, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by John Sear
- Adapted by John Sear from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthurus_mata
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elongate_surgeonfish
