Spotted surgeonfish

Ctenochaetus strigosus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth5–22 m
Water temperature24–29 °C
Best monthsSeptember
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) L. Miles Horne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Ctenochaetus strigosus, the kole tang, spotted bristletooth, spotted surgeonfish, goldring bristletooth, goldring surgeonfish, yelloweye tang or yellow-eyed surgeonfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to family Acanthuridae which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs. This fish is endemic to Hawaii.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Ctenochaetus strigosus”, 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: 850 records
February: 207 records
March: 299 records
April: 200 records
May: 212 records
June: 831 records
July: 1,636 records
August: 2,524 records
September: 4,927 records
October: 2,525 records
November: 563 records
December: 107 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 5–22 m · Deepest record: 265 m

0–10 m: 4,221 records
10–20 m: 7,294 records
20–30 m: 2,314 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 2 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–29 °C

22–24 °C: 47 records
24–26 °C: 746 records
26–28 °C: 71 records
28–30 °C: 4 records

Photos

(c) Rose Zappa, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) My-Lan Le, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lawrence Troup, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Lexi Amico, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) gabbieb, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Spotted surgeonfish, Bristletoothed Surgeonfish, Goldring Bristletooth, Goldring Surgeonfish, Slender-toothed Surgeonfish, Spotted Bristletooth, spotted surgeonfish, Yellow-eyed Surgeonfish

Names in 3 more languages

German: Goldring-Borstenzahndoktorfisch
Spanish: Pez Cirujano Kole
Filipino: Labahita

Other scientific names: Acanthurus strigosus, Ctenochaetus stigosus

Similar species

Lined bristletooth
Ctenochaetus striatus
Twospot surgeonfish
Ctenochaetus binotatus
Orange-tip Bristletooth
Ctenochaetus tominiensis
Eyestripe surgeonfish
Acanthurus dussumieri
Lined surgeonfish
Acanthurus lineatus
Backsurgeonfish
Acanthurus nigricans

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).
14,755 open-data records from 1828 to 2024.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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