Paracanthurus: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the Paracanthurus lives – recorded in 16 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Paracanthurus hepatus
Group	Bony fish
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	16 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Oceania
Class	Ray-finned fish
Order	Acanthuriformes
Family	Acanthuridae

Where does the Paracanthurus live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the Paracanthurus in 16 countries and territories across Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the Paracanthurus endangered?

The Paracanthurus’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the Paracanthurus?

The Paracanthurus (Paracanthurus hepatus) is a ray-finned fish in the order Acanthuriformes and the family Acanthuridae, genus Paracanthurus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the Paracanthurus

Paracanthurus hepatus is a species of Indo-Pacific surgeonfish. A popular fish in marine aquaria, it is the only member of the genus Paracanthurus.

A number of common names are attributed to the species, including palette surgeonfish, blue surgeonfish, blue tang (leading to confusion with the Atlantic species Acanthurus coeruleus), flagtail surgeonfish, hepatus tang, Indo-Pacific bluetang, regal blue surgeonfish, wedge-tailed tang, wedgetail blue tang, royal blue tang, hippo tang, blue hippo tang, regal tang, and regal blue tang.

It is most closely related to genus Zebrasoma, with which it forms a sister group.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Paracanthurus (revision 1381207776), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q278307 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).