Eyestripe surgeonfish

Acanthurus dussumieri

Saltwater
Surgeonfish
Least concern

About

The eyestripe surgeonfish is a striking, patterned reef fish that grows to a solid 54 cm, though most divers will see one closer to 35 cm. Its face carries some of the busiest, most delicate line-work of any surgeonfish on the reef.

Also known as: eyestripe surgeonfish, hawaiian surgeonfish, ornate surgeonfish, palani, penciled surgeonfish, pencilled surgeon, pencilled surgeonfish, ornate sturgeonfish, pencilled surgeon, black-spot surgeonfish, penciled surgeonfish, eye-stripe surgeonfish, ornate surgeonfish, pencilled surgeonfish, hawaiian surgeonfish, eyestripe surgeonfish, pencil surgeonfish

Length: 35 cm · max 54 cm
Depth: 9–130 m
Temperature: 24–28 °C

How to tell it apart

Its busy facial lines and orange eye-bar can look similar to a few other large surgeonfish sharing these reefs. The clincher is on the tail: this species carries a single sharp spine on each side of the tail base that is pale white, ringed by a distinct black blotch, a combination not shared by the surgeonfish it is most often confused with.

Appearance

This is a deep-bodied, oval fish, flattened from side to side, with a small head, slightly bulging eyes, and a small beak-like mouth with pale, puffy lips. Its throat is blue, and the rest of its head is covered in a dense network of blue and grey-blue lines, finer and more widely spaced into wavy lines along its pale brownish body. A broad orange bar crosses above the eyes, and a narrow orange band runs along the base of the long dorsal fin. The crescent-shaped tail is dark blue, speckled with black, with a pale patch at its base. Young fish start out greyish with yellow and black tails, turning dark brown, then gradually lightening and developing the adult's fine lines and facial pattern as they mature.

Habitat

It ranges widely across the tropical Indian Ocean and West Pacific, from East Africa to southern Japan, Indonesia, and eastern Australia. Look for adults on deep reef slopes and outer reef walls, sometimes around deep shipwrecks, in water between about 9 and 130 m. Younger fish stick closer to algae-covered rocky reef, often in shallower water.