Palette surgeonfish

Appearance

''Paracanthurus hepatus'' has a royal blue body, yellow tail, and black 'palette' design. The lower body is yellow in the west-central Indian Ocean. ''Indian Ocean Tropical Fish Guide.'' Aquaprint Verlags GmbH. ISBN 3-927991-01-5 It grows to 30 cm . This fish is rather flat, like a pancake, with a circular body shape, a pointed snout-like nose, and small scales. The blue tang has 9 dorsal spines, 26-28 dorsal soft rays, 3 anal spines, and 24-26 anal soft rays.

Behavior

Males aggressively court female members of the school, leading to a quick upward spawning rush toward the surface of the water during which eggs and sperm are released. The eggs are small, approximately 0.8 mm in diameter. The eggs are Pelagic, each containing a single droplet of oil for flotation. The fertilized eggs hatch in twenty-four hours, revealing small, translucent larvae with silvery abdomens and rudimentary caudal spines. Blue tangs can also, when faced with danger or dark spaces, make themselves semi-transparent, in order to help with evasion and light passivity, respectively.

Habitat

The species' range is broad, but it is common nowhere. It can be found throughout the Indo-Pacific. It is seen in reefs of East Africa, Japan, Samoa, New Caledonia, and the Great Barrier Reef. The Blue tang is one of the most common and most popular marine aquarium fish all over the world. They live in pairs, or in a small groups of up to 10 or 12 individuals. These fish reach sexual maturity at 9-12 months of age.

The blue tang is ranked LC by the World Conservation Union , but is of low vulnerability.

Food

As a juvenile, its diet consists primarily of plankton. Adults are omnivorous and feed on plankton, but will also graze on algae. Spawning occurs during late afternoon and evening hours. This event is indicated by a change in color from a uniform dark blue to a pale blue.

Cultural

In the 2003 Disney/Pixar film, ''Finding Nemo'' and its 2016 sequel, ''Finding Dory'', the character Dory is a blue tang.