Acanthurus leucocheilus

Pale lipped surgeonfish | White-spine Surgeon
Acanthurus leucocheilus
Acanthurus leucocheilus, Bali, Indonesia, Photo: Graham Edgar
Acanthurus leucocheilus
Acanthurus leucocheilus, Bali, Indonesia, Photo: Ian Shaw
Acanthurus leucocheilus
Acanthurus leucocheilus, WA, Australia, Photo: Rick Stuart-Smith
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Acanthurus leucocheilus
Acanthurus leucocheilus
Acanthurus leucocheilus

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

Rounded head, grey lips, dark-edged white tail spine, tail lunate with a black-edged white rear margin, often displays a white band on inner tail, and a yellow or white streak up the middle of the pectoral fin.


Information

Max Size: 45 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 24.4-31.4°C

Depth: 3-40m

Habitat Generalization Index: 1.25

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Occurrence: Infrequent (4.4% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Few (3 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: Joe Shields