''Acanthurus fowleri'', Fowler's surgeonfish or the horseshoe surgeonfish, is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Acanthuridae Acanthuridae are a family of ray-finned fish which includes surgeonfishes, tangs, and unicornfishes. The family includes about 86 extant species of marine fish living in tropical seas, usually around coral reefs. Many of the species are brigh ...

, the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes or tangs. This fish is found in the Western Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

''Acanthurus fowleri'' was first formally described in 1951 by the Dutch

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Lieven Ferdinand de Beaufort Lieven Ferdinand de Beaufort (March 23, 1879 in Den Treek, Leusden – 11 May 1968 in Amersfoort) was a Dutch biologist who, in 1903, participated in the North New Guinea Expedition. In the 1920s he was director of the Zoological Museum of ...

with its type localities given as Buika Island off

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

in Indonesia, Maitara and Gomomo Islands in the Philippines. The genus ''

Acanthurus ''Acanthurus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs, found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. They are found in tropical oceans, especially ...

'' is one of two genera in the tribe Acanthurini which is one of three tribes in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Acanthurinae ''Acanthurinae'' is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Acanthuridae, found in the Indo-Pacific and the tropical Atlantic. These fishes commonly have the English names surgeonfishes or tangs. Taxono ...

which is one of two subfamilies in the family Acanthuridae.

Etymology

''Acanthurus fowleri'' has a

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honouring the American

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Henry Weed Fowler Henry Weed Fowler (March 23, 1878 – June 21, 1965) was an American zoologist born in Holmesburg, Philadelphia, Holmesburg, Pennsylvania. He studied at Stanford University under David Starr Jordan. He joined the Academy of Natural Sciences in Ph ...

of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences who originally reported this species but misidentified it as '' Hepatus pyroferus''.

Description

''Acanthurus fowleri'' has its

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

supported by 9 spines and between 26 and 28 soft rays while the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

is supported by 3 spines and 25 to 26 soft rays. There is a large horseshoe-shaped blue or black mark on the flanks close to the head with its open end to the front and its upper part level with the eye over the upper end of the gill slit and the lower end over the base of the

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s. The blue head is a diffused with purple. The

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

is blackish in the middle with each lobe having a yellow band merging with a white band at the base of the fin and the rear margin has a thin blue stripe.. The main colour on the body is bluish-grey. This species has a maximum published

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

of .

Distribution and habitat

''Acanthurus fowleri'' is found in the tropical West Pacific. from the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia east to the Solomon Islands. In Australian waters it is found at the Scott Reef and the Ashmore Reef in the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea (, , or ) is a relatively shallow sea in the Indian Ocean bounded to the north by the island of Timor with Timor-Leste to the north, Indonesia to the northwest, Arafura Sea to the east, and to the south by Australia. The Sunda Tr ...

. They are found in water deeper then over outer reef slopes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2563702 fowleri Fish of Thailand Fish described in 1851