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Sleek Unicornfish

Naso hexacanthus

Description:

Blue, elongated oval, unicorn-fish, compressed and upper and lower profiles symmetrical. This one about 8" long. Squared off tail (caudal fin). Anal, ventral and trailing edge of the caudal fins a yellow olive and a dark tick (check) mark across the cheeks. It also has two pairs of small 'scalpel' scales at the base of its tail.

Habitat:

This one found in shallow water (4-8m) on coral reef just off Komodo Island in Indonesia and is probably a juvenile. As a species they do tend to occur in slightly deeper water as adults.

Notes:

Interestingly this is a unicorn fish species that does not grow a horn from either gender. Also it is sometimes know as the Black-tongue Unicornfish as they develop a black tongue once they reach the 25cm length mark. Ref: Discover Life - Fish Base.

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2 Comments

triggsturner
triggsturner 8 years ago

Thank you Polilla and Gilma. This is a strange case of a unicornfish with no horn. I believe this is the only one species of this group that doesnt grow one.

Beautiful! but I was expecting to see a unicorn on it?

triggsturner
Spotted by
triggsturner

Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia

Spotted on Mar 5, 2016
Submitted on Apr 11, 2016

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