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Acanthurus

{{Short description|Genus of fishes}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{fossilrange|55|0}}
Early Eocene to PresentSepkoski, J.J.Jr (2002): [http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class A Compendium of Fossil Marine Animal Genera.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723131237/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |date=23 July 2011 }} Bulletins of American Paleontology, 363: 1–560.

| image = Acanthurus leucosternon 01.JPG

| image_caption = Acanthurus leucosternon

| image2 = Acanthurus achilles (cropped).jpg

| image2_caption = Acanthurus achilles

| taxon = Acanthurus

| authority = Forsskål, 1775

| type_species = Teuthis hepatus or Chaetodon sohal

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758 or Forsskål, 1775

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

| synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true|title=List

| Acronurus
{{small|Gronow in Gray 1854}}

| Aspisurus
{{small|Lacépède, 1802}}

| Ctenodon
{{small|Swainson, 1839}}

| Harpurina
{{small|Fowler & Bean, 1929}}

| Harpurus
{{small|Johann Reinhold Forster, 1788}}

| Rhomboteuthis
{{small|Fowler, 1944}}

| Rhombotides
{{small|Bleeker, 1863}}

| Theutis
{{small|Bonnaterre, 1788}}

| Theutys
{{small|Goüan, 1770}}

}}

| synonyms_ref =

}}

Acanthurus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs, found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. They are found in tropical oceans, especially near coral reefs, with most species in the Indo-Pacific but a few are found in the Atlantic Ocean. As other members of the family, they have a pair of spines, one on either side of the base of the tail which are dangerously sharp.

Taxonomy

Acanthurus was first proposed as a subgenus of Chaetodon in 1775 by the Swedish-speaking Finnish explorer, orientalist and naturalist Peter Forsskål, although he recognised that it was probably different from Chaetodon even at the family level. In 1856 Desmarest designated Teuthis hepatus, which had been described from a type now known to have been collected at Ambon Island in the Moluccas (other erroneous type localities were named) in 1758 by Linnaeus, as the type species of the genus.{{Cof family|family=Acanthuridae|access-date=28 August 2023}}{{Cof genus|genus=Acanthurus|access-date=28 August 2023}} T. hepatus is a synonym of Paracanthurus hepatus and this would make Paracanthurus synonymous with Acanthurus. An alternative would be to use the name Harpurus proposed as a monospecific genus in 1788 by Johann Reinhold Forster when he described Harpurus fasciatus, a synonym of Acanthurus triostegus. It has been proposed that the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature should be petitioned to stabilise the genera Acanthurus and Paracanthurus.{{cite journal |author=Ronald Fricke |year=2008 |title=Authorship, availability and validity of fish names described by Peter (Pehr) Simon Forsskål and Johann Christian Fabricius in the 'Descriptiones animalium' by Carsten Niebuhr in 1775 (Pisces) |journal=Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde A, Neue Serie. |volume=1 |pages=1–76 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235686196}} In 2014 it was proposed that the type species of Acanthurus should be Chaetodon sohal, which had also been described by Forsskål in 1775 as a member of the subgenus alongside C. bifasciatus, C. nigrofuscus and C. unicornis, and had been designated as the type species by Jordan and Evermann in 1917.{{cite journal| author=Vahe D. Demirjian | year=2014 |title=Acanthurus Forsskål, 1775 (Osteichthyes, ACANTHURIDAE): proposed conservation by designation of Chaetodon sohal Forsskål, 1775 as the type species |journal=Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |volume=71 |issue=2 |pages=81–83 | doi=10.21805/bzn.v71i2.a7 |url=https://www.biotaxa.org/bzn/article/view/38106/32702}}

= Paraphyly =

It has been proposed that the genus Ctenochaetus should be merged with Acanthurus, as Acanthurus is currently paraphyletic.{{cite journal |author1=Laurie Sorenson |author2=Francesco Santini |author3=Giorgio Carnevale |author4=Michael E. Alfaro |year=2013 |title=A multi-locus timetree of surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae, Percomorpha), with revised family taxonomy |journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution |volume=68 |issue=1 |pages=150–160 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2013.03.014 |issn=1055-7903 |pmid=23542000}}{{Cite journal |last=F. Cowman |first=Peter |date=2019-02-12 |title=Supplementary material from "The evolution of traits and functions in herbivorous coral reef fishes through space and time" |url=https://rs.figshare.com/collections/Supplementary_material_from_The_evolution_of_traits_and_functions_in_herbivorous_coral_reef_fishes_through_space_and_time_/4397657/1 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society |language=en |doi=10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4397657.v1}} All Ctenochaetus species are nested within Acanthurus, while A. nubilis and A. pyroferus are furthermore nested within Ctenochaetus. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World recognises these two genera as valid and classifies them as the two genera in the tribe Acanthurini of the subfamily Acanthurinae within the family Acanthuridae.{{cite book |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |author1=J. S. Nelson |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |year=2016 |pages=497–502 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6}}

= Etymology =

Acanthurus is a combination of the Ancient Greek words ἄκανθα (ákantha), meaning "spine", and οὐρά (ourá), meaning "tail", a reference to the scalpel like bony plates on the caudal peduncle, these also give rise to the vernacular English names surgeonfish and doctorfish.{{cite web |name-list-style=amp |date=12 January 2021 |editor2=Kenneth J. Lazara |title=Order ACANTHURIFORMES (part 2): Families EPHIPPIDAE, LEIOGNATHIDAE, SCATOPHAGIDAE, ANTIGONIIDAE, SIGANIDAE, CAPROIDAE, LUVARIDAE, ZANCLIDAE and ACANTHURIDAE |url=https://etyfish.org/acanthuriformes2/ |access-date=10 July 2023 |work=The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database |publisher=Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara |editor1=Christopher Scharpf}}

Species

There are currently 41 recognized species in this genus:{{FishBase genus|genus=Acanthurus|month=June|year=2023}}

File:Japanese Surgeonfish (Acanthurus japonicus) (8481921389).jpg]]

File:Acanthurus polyzona Réunion.JPG]]

File:Acanthurus lineatus Reunion.jpg]]

Characteristics

File:Acanthurus spine peduncle.jpg tail spine]]

Acanthurus surgeonfishes have disc shaped, highly laterally compressed bodies with a steep dorsal profile to the head. They have a small mouth positioned low on the head and the fish can protrude the jaws. The 8 to 28 teeth in the jaws are fixed and have flattened, serrated tips. There are typically 11 spines in the dorsal fin. There is a single spine on each side of the caudal peduncle and these can be pressed down into a groove.{{cite web | url = https://biogeodb.stri.si.edu/caribbean/en/thefishes/taxon/2155 | title = Genus: Acanthurus, Common Surgeonfish, Surgeonfishes, Tangs | access-date = 29 August 2023 | work = Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system | publisher = Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute}}

The Indo-Pacific yellowfin surgeonfish (A. xanthopterus) is the largest species with a maximum published total length of {{cvt|70|cm}} while the smallest is the black-barred surgeonfish (A. polyzona) with a maximum published total length of {{cvt|11|cm}}.

Distribution

Acanthrus surgeonfishes are distributed around the world in tropical waters.

References

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Category:Acanthurini

Category:Marine fish genera

Category:Taxa named by Peter Forsskål