''Acanthurus dussumieri'', commonly known as Dussumier's surgeonfish, the eye-stripe surgeonfish or the ornate surgeonfish, is a

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

from the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to a maximum length of but is a more usual size. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

explorer and trader

Jean-Jacques Dussumier Jean-Jacques Dussumier (1792–1883) was a French voyager and merchant from Bordeaux. He is known as a collector of zoological species from southern Asia and regions around the Indian Ocean between 1816 and 1840. These collections were later studied ...

(1792-1883).

Description

''Acanthurus dussumieri'' is a deep-bodied, laterally-compressed oval fish with a maximum length of . The head is small, with slightly prominent eyes, a small beak-like mouth and inflated, pale lips. The body is smooth, being covered with small scales, but like other surgeon-fish, it has a pair of scalpel-like, modified scales on the caudal peduncle; these can either be folded flat or raised in defence. Both dorsal and anal fins are long, and the pectoral fins are used for locomotion and balance. The throat is blue, and the rest of the head has a dense network of blue or grey-blue lines, which are wider than the fine grey-blue, wavy, longitudinal lines on the pale brownish body. There is a broad orange bar above the eyes and a narrow orange band borders the base of the dorsal fin. The scalpel-like scales are white and are surrounded by a black blotch. The caudal fin is crescent-shaped, dark blue speckled with black apart from a pale base. Along with ''

Acanthurus mata ''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 It is a medium sized fish that can reach a maximum siz ...

'' and ''

Acanthurus xanthopterus ''Acanthurus xanthopterus'', the yellowfin surgeonfish yellowmask surgeonfish, ringtail surgeonfish or Cuvier's surgeonfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishe ...

'', it is one of the largest species of surgeonfish. Juvenile fish are greyish with yellow and black caudal fins at first, but the body colour becomes dark brown later. As they grow the body colour lightens and the longitudinal wavy lines and facial patterning begin to appear.

Distribution and habitat

This surgeonfish has a widespread distribution in the tropical and sub-tropical Indian Ocean and the West Pacific Ocean. Its range extends from East Africa to southern Japan, Indonesia and eastern Australia, at depths down to about . It occurs in lagoons, on reefs, on reef slopes, and in inter-reef areas with sand or rubble substrates or rock. Juveniles and young adults are mostly associated with reefs.

Ecology

''Acanthurus dussumieri'' feeds on algae and detritus. Its diet includes the algal film that grows on rocks and other surfaces as well as

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

s and

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...

ic particles. The reproduction of this fish has been little studied. Adults are either solitary or occur in small groups but juveniles form shoals.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q547028 Acanthurus Fish of the Indian Ocean Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish of Hawaii Fish described in 1835 Taxa named by Achille Valenciennes