Acanthurus mata
Pale surgeonfish | Blue-lined Surgeonfish | Elongate Surgeonfish | Mata Surgeonfish | Striped Surgeonfish | Tailring Surgeon | White-tail Lancet | Yellowmask Surgeonfish
Similar Species
Same Genus
Distribution
Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Yellow mask over eyes, dark tail spine, often pale band on tail base, and blue scribbles over face and body. Can rapidly change from pale blue to dark brown background colouration. Found over steep reef slopes, often in turbid waters, in small groups, feeding above the bottom.
Information
Max Size: 50 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 22.4-31.4°C
Depth: 5-100m
Habitat Generalization Index: 2.21
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 (3.8% 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: Many (12 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Joe Shields