Acanthurinae
Subfamily of fishes
title: "Acanthurinae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["acanthuridae", "ray-finned-fish-subfamilies"] description: "Subfamily of fishes" topic_path: "general/acanthuridae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthurinae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Subfamily of fishes ::
| image = Acanthurus sohal 334315485.jpg | image_caption = Acanthurus sohal | image2 = Acanthuridae - Zebrasoma desjardinii.JPG | image2_caption = Zebrasoma desjardinii | taxon = Acanthurinae | authority = Bonaparte, 1835 | subdivision_ranks = Tribes and genera | subdivision = See text | type_species = Acanthurus triostegus | type_species_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)
Acanthurinae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Acanthuridae, found in the Indo-Pacific and the tropical Atlantic. These fishes commonly have the English names surgeonfishes or tangs.
Taxonomy
Acanthurinae is the nominate subfamily of the family Acanthuridae which was proposed by the French zoologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1835.
Tribes and genera
Acanthurinae is subdivided into the following tribes and genera: ::data[format=table title=""]
| Tribe | Genus | Species | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acanthurini | Acanthurus | 41 | [[File:Striped surgeonfish (Acanthurus lineatus) (46864395325) (cropped).jpg |
| Ctenochaetus | 9 | [[File:Ctenochaetus tominiensis.jpg | frameless]] |
| Prionurini | Prionurus | 7 | [[File:Prionurus laticlavius - Chancho Surgeonfish.jpg |
| Zebrasomini | Paracanthurus | 1 | [[File:Paletten-Doktorfisch Münster.JPG |
| Zebrasoma | 7 | [[File:Zebrasoma flavescens 2589.jpg | frameless]] |
| :: |
FishBase list 57 species in the subfamily, with Acanthurus containing 40 species being the most speciose genus.
Characteristics
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Acanthurus_spine_peduncle.jpg" caption="''[[Acanthurus xanthopterus]]'' tail spine"] ::
Acanthurini surgeonfishes are characterised by having 3 spines in the anal fin. They also have one or more mobile and flexible spine on the caudal peduncle, this spine is not mobile in Prionurus, that may be extended as a defensive weapon. In the tribe Acanthurini this spine is held in a deep slit. They have 5 branchiostegals and they have spatulate teeth in the jaws.
Distribution
Acanthurinae are mainly found in the Indo-Pacific region but five species in the genus Acanthurus extend into the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean but they are absent from the Mediterranean.
References
Bibliography
- Joseph S. Nelson: Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, 2006,
- André Luty: Doktorfische - Lebensweise - Pflege - Arten. Dähne Verlag, Ettlingen 1999,
- Andreas Vilcinskas: Meerestiere der Tropen, Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2000,
- Helmut Debelius und Rudie H. Kuiter: Doktorfische und ihre Verwandten. Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 2002,
References
- (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa.
- (2016). "Fishes of the World". Wiley.
- The smallest species is the bluebarred surgeonfish (''[[Acanthurus polyzona]]'') with a maximum published total length of {{cvt. 11. cm while the largest species, Fowler's surgeonfish (''[[Acanthurus fowleri. A. folweri]]'') and the powderblue surgeonfish (''[[Acanthurus leucosternon. A. leucosternon]]''), both have maximum published [[total length]]s of {{cvt. 54. (2023)
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::