''Ctenochaetus'', or bristletooth tangs, is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 ...

, which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs. These fishes are found in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

region. They have many, small flexible teeth and some species have the common name bristletooth.

Taxonomy

''Ctenochaetus'' was first proposed as a genus in 1884 by 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 ...

Theodore Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist, and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural hist ...

with ''Acanthurus strigosus'' as its

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. ''A. strigosus'' had originally been described in 1828 by

Edward Turner Bennett Edward Turner Bennett (6 January 1797 – 21 August 1836) was an English zoologist and writer. He was the elder brother of the botanist John Joseph Bennett.

from the

Sandwich Islands The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll. Formerly ca ...

Paraphyly

It has been proposed that this genus and ''Acanthurus'' should be merged as otherwise ''Acanthurus'' is paraphyletic. ''Ctenochaetus'' species all nest within ''Acanthurus'', while ''Acanthurus nubilis, A. nubilis'' and ''Acanthurus pyroferus, A. pyroferus'' are furthermore nested within ''Ctenochaetus''. The 5th edition of ''Fishes of the World'' recognises these two genera as valid and classifies them as the two genera in the Tribe (biology), tribe Acanthurini of the subfamily Acanthurinae within the family Acanthuridae.

Etymology

''Ctenochaetus'' Is a compound of ''cteno'', meaning “bristle”, and ''chaetus'', meaning “comb”. Gill did not explain what this alluded to but it is almost certain to allude to the bristle or comb like teeth of these fishes.

Species

''Ctenochaetus'' currently has nine recognised species classified within it: * ''Ctenochaetus binotatus'' John Ernest Randall, J. E. Randall, 1955 (Twospot surgeonfish) * ''Ctenochaetus cyanocheilus'' J. E. Randall & Kendall David Clements, Clements, 2001 (Short-tail bristle-tooth) * ''Ctenochaetus flavicauda'' Henry Weed Fowler, Fowler, 1938 (Whitetail bristletooth) * ''Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis'' J. E. Randall, 1955 (Chevron tang) * ''Ctenochaetus marginatus'' (Achille Valenciennes, Valenciennes, 1835) (Striped-fin surgeonfish) * ''Ctenochaetus striatus'' (Jean René Constant Quoy, Quoy & Joseph Paul Gaimard, Gaimard, 1825) (Striated surgeonfish) * ''Ctenochaetus strigosus'' (Edward Turner Bennett, E. T. Bennett, 1828) (Kole Tang) * ''Ctenochaetus tominiensis'' J. E. Randall, 1955 (Tomini surgeonfish) * ''Ctenochaetus truncatus'' J. E. Randall & Clements, 2001 (Indian gold-ring bristle-tooth)

Characteristics

''Ctenochaetus'' surgeonfishes are closely related to the surgeonfishes in the genus ''Acanthurus'' and are very similar to them. They have a different jaw structure from the ''Acanthurus'' surgeonfishes having numerous brush or bristle like flexible teeth. Their dorsal fin is supported by 8 spines and between 24 and 31 soft rays while their anal fins are supported by 3 spines and between 22 and 28 soft rays. These fish vary in length from a maximum published standard length of in ''C. strigosus'' to a maximum published total length of in ''C. marginatus''.

Distribution

''Ctenochaetus'' surgeonfishes have a wide Indo-Pacific distribution. They are found from the eastern coast of Africa, including the Red Sea eastwards through the tropical Indian Ocean into the Pacific Ocean as far east as Hawaii.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q137748 Acanthurini Ctenochaetus, Marine fish genera Taxa named by Theodore Gill Taxa described in 1884