Japanese Surgeonfish
Acanthurus japonicus
- Usual depth7–24 m
- Water temperature25–29 °C
- Best monthsApril, June, and October
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) Rickard Zerpe, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
Acanthurus japonicus, the Japan surgeonfish, white-faced surgeonfish, gold rim tang, powder brown tang and white-nose surgeonfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes or tangs. This fish is found in the Western Pacific Ocean.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Acanthurus japonicus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 13 records
- February: 16 records
- March: 23 records
- April: 33 records
- May: 17 records
- June: 31 records
- July: 22 records
- August: 22 records
- September: 13 records
- October: 25 records
- November: 8 records
- December: 17 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 7–24 m · Deepest record: 25.5 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 25–29 °C
Photos
(c) Bernard DUPONT, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) João D'Andretta, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) desertnaturalist, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Japanese Surgeonfish, Powder Black Surgeon, White-nose Surgeonfish
Names in 1 more languages
- Japanese
- Namidakurohagi, ナミダクロハギ
Other scientific names: Acanthurus japonica, Acanthurus japonicas
Similar species
Chocolate surgeonfishAcanthurus pyroferus
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 137 open-data records from 1990 to 2016.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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