Bluelined surgeonfish

About this species

Acanthurus nigroris, the bluelined surgeonfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs. This species and A. nigros have been regarded as synonymous with the combined taxon having a wide Indo-Pacific distribution, if treated as a separate valid species it is confined to the United States Pacific islands.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Acanthurus nigroris”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 782 records
February: 403 records
March: 870 records
April: 427 records
May: 174 records
June: 279 records
July: 621 records
August: 1,247 records
September: 2,962 records
October: 1,479 records
November: 79 records
December: 8 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–20 m · Deepest record: 29.6 m

0–10 m: 3,835 records
10–20 m: 4,431 records
20–30 m: 947 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–29 °C

22–24 °C: 126 records
24–26 °C: 529 records
26–28 °C: 186 records
28–30 °C: 119 records

Photos

(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) cello caruso-turiello, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) jeyre, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Martin Purdy, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Abby Darrah, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Maude, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Bluelined surgeonfish, bluelined surgeonfish, Bluelined Surgeonfish, Blueline Surgeonfish, Grey-head Surgeonfish, Greyhead Surgeonfish

Names in 3 more languages

Spanish: Pez Cirujano Rayado Azul
Filipino: Labahita, Surahan
French: Chirurgien à lignes bleues

Other scientific names: Acanthurus atramentatus, Acanthurus bipunctatus, Hepatus atramentatus, Teuthis atrimentatus

Similar species

Eyestripe surgeonfish
Acanthurus dussumieri
Lined surgeonfish
Acanthurus lineatus
Backsurgeonfish
Acanthurus nigricans
Brown surgeonfish
Acanthurus nigrofuscus
Gendarme Fish
Acanthurus olivaceus
Convict surgeonfish
Acanthurus triostegus

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).
10,284 open-data records from 1947 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.