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Project Noah Nature School
Acanthurus achilles
A surgeonfish, the Achilles Tang spends a lot of time and energy defending its territory from other algae-eating surgeonfish. They flick their tale to show the scalpel to warn the intruder. All surgeonfish have at least one scalpel on each side just before the base of the tail.
Spotted on Apr 17, 2012
Submitted on Apr 29, 2012
6 Comments
I have added another photo of the Achilles Tang, showing how they feed on the thin turf of microalgae covering the substrate.
Very nice spot and thanks for the interesting info.
Wow! I never knew there were fishes with scalpels. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Gerardo! I have a lot of snorkel pics from that trip but haven't had time to ID them all and get them posted....next week!
Seems to be a grate experience nice spotting!
These were just a couple of the amazing fish we saw while we were snorkelling at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii this month. This is a fantastic place to snorkel and quite well preserved from human damage. We kayaked across the Bay and then snorkelled by the Captain Cook Monument. Spectacular!