Acanthurus lineatus  (Linnaeus, 1758)

Lined surgeonfish
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Image of Acanthurus lineatus (Lined surgeonfish)
Acanthurus lineatus
Picture by Randall, J.E.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Perciformes (Perch-likes) > Acanthuridae (Surgeonfishes, tangs, unicornfishes) > Acanthurinae
Etymology: Acanthurus: Greek, akantha = thorn + Greek, oura = tail (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 0 - 15 m (Ref. 27115), usually 1 - 3 m (Ref. 37792).   Tropical; 24°C - 30°C (Ref. 27115); 36°N - 36°S, 27°E - 137°W

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 18.0  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 38.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3145); common length : 25.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 30573)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 9; Dorsal soft rays (total): 27-30; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 25 - 28. Upper 3/4 of body with alternating black-edged blue and yellow bands; lower 1/4 of body gray. Erectile spine on each side of caudal peduncle is sharp, strong, forward-pointing, and venomous. Upper part of head with yellow, oblique stripes. Pectoral fins pale with dusky rays; pelvic fins light yellowish brown with black outer margin; vertical markings in caudal fin. Gill rakers 14-16 anterior row, 13-15 posterior row. Minute scales. Philippine specimens demonstrate different color patterns.

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions | Faunafri

Indo-Pacific: East Africa, including the Mascarene Islands (Ref. 37792) to the Hawaiian, Marquesan and Tuamoto islands, north to southern Japan, south to the Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia. Replaced by the closely related Acanthurus sohal in the Red Sea.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

A territorial species (Ref. 167) which is common in surge zones of exposed seaward reefs. The large male controls well-defined feeding territories and harems of females (Ref. 1602, 48637). Benthopelagic (Ref. 58302). Adult usually forms schools and commonly found in shallow gutters. Juvenile solitary and secretive on shallow rubble habitats (Ref. 48637). The species is almost continually in motion. Herbivorous but also feeds on crustaceans (Ref. 5503). The venomous caudal spine can cause painful wounds. Forms spawning aggregations (Ref. 27825).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Randall, John E. | Collaborators

Randall, J.E., 1986. Acanthuridae. p. 811-823. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)

  Least Concern (LC) 

Threat to humans

  Venomous (Ref. 4821)




Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial
FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | National databases | Public aquariums | PubMed | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on empirical models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01677 (-0.07639 - 0.10994), b=2.97 (2.91 - 3.03), based on LWR estimates for species & genus-BS (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  2.0   ±0.0 se; Based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (tm=4).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (23 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.