The Red Sea sailfin tang or Desjardin's sailfin tang (''Zebrasoma desjardinii'') is a

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

in the fish

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Acanthuridae Acanthuridae are the family of surgeonfishes, tangs, and unicornfishes. The family includes about 86 extant species of marine fish living in tropical seas, usually around coral reefs. Many of the species are brightly colored and popular in aq ...

Description

''Zebrasoma desjardinii'' grows to a maximum length of 40 cm (16 in), with sexual dimorphism producing males that are larger than females. This species shows the typical morphology of the family

. The body is oval or disc-shaped, with erectile and much elevated dorsal and anal fins. The coloration may vary from one individual to another and within the same individual, depending on age. In general, the upper side of the body alternates orange and dark blue vertical bands, with a larger blue band on the eyes, a spotted ventral region and numerous white spots on the head. The dorsal and anal fins have a pattern of horizontal alternate orange and blue bands. The caudal fin shows white spots and lines. Like most surgeonfish on each side of the caudal fin, in the middle of the caudal peduncle, there is a defensive dark spine surrounded by a blue zone. This spine is hinged and may unfold to 80°. In comparison to ''

Zebrasoma veliferum The sailfin tang (''Zebrasoma velifer'') is a marine reef tang in the fish family Acanthuridae. They may live at water depths of 1 - 60 m (3 - 200 ft) or more. The fish grow to a maximum length of 40 cm (15.8 in). It has an extensive range t ...

'', the adult Red Sea sailfin tang has fewer anal fin rays (22-24 instead of 23-26) and different markings on the tail. As a juvenile, the two species are almost indistinguishable in color and markings.

Behavior

Adults usually can be found in pairs, while juveniles are solitary. When threatened, these fishes display their large ventral and dorsal fins. They feed primarily on filamentous algae, various macroalgae and plankton. However, individuals were regularly observed feeding on jellyfish (

Scyphozoa The Scyphozoa are an exclusively marine class of the phylum Cnidaria, referred to as the true jellyfish (or "true jellies"). The class name Scyphozoa comes from the Greek word ''skyphos'' (), denoting a kind of drinking cup and alluding to the ...

) and comb jellies (

Ctenophora Ctenophora (; ctenophore ; ) comprise a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs"), an ...

) in the Red Sea. They are pair

spawners Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...

, a typical trait of other fish in the genus ''

Zebrasoma ''Zebrasoma'' is a genus of surgeonfishes native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They have disc-shaped bodies and sail-like fins. Species There are currently seven recognized species in this genus: * '' Zebrasoma desjardinii'' ( E. T. Bennett ...

''. This differs from the group spawning typical of the family

Distribution

This species is widespread in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

from the northern

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

KwaZulu-Natal Province KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locat ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and as far east as

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

Habitat

Red Sea sailfin tangs natively live in lagoons and reefs in a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

climate. The juvenile fishes live in the inner reef areas. They prefer

saltwater Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish water, ...

with a

specific gravity Relative density, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water (molecule), wa ...

of 1.020 - 1.025, a pH between 8.1 and 8.4 and an ideal temperature range of 22 - 26 C (72 - 78 F). They may live at water depths of 2 – 30 m (6.5 – 100 ft) or more.

In the aquarium

The Red Sea Sailfin Tang is considered to be a moderately difficult fish to keep in captivity. Most Red Sea Sailfin Tangs kept in private aquaria are wild-caught as it is very difficult to breed them in captivity. They require a minimum tank size of 125 gallons (473 liters) and large quantities of live rock. They normally live for 5 to 7 years in captivity.

Bibliography

* Sprung, Julian y Delbeek, J.Charles. - The Reef Aquarium. Ricordea Publishing. 1994. * Debelius, Helmut y Baensch, Hans A. Atlas Marino. Mergus. 1997. * Michael, Scott W. (en inglés) Reef aquarium fishes. Microcosm.T.F.H. 2005. * Nilsen, A.J. y Fossa, S.A. - Reef Secrets. TFH Publications .2002.

References

* *

External links

Aquabase
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1661589 Acanthuridae Fish described in 1836