Palette Surgeonfish

Tail sharp as a scalpel

Have you seen the movies “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory”? In that case, you might remember the helpful but rather forgetful blue fish, Dory? Dory is a palette surgeonfish. There is, however, no indication of palette surgeonfish being forgetful.

The palette surgeonfish, or regal tang as it is also called, belongs to the group of fish called surgeonfishes. A common feature of all these fish is that they have one or more scalpel-like modified scales at the root of the tail, which can be extended when the fish feels threatened. These “scalpels” have given the surgeonfishes their name. They are very sharp, and when the surgeonfish whips its tail it can do a great deal of damage.   

Popular aquarium fish

After the movies about Dory, palette surgeonfish has become a very popular aquarium fish. This causes problems, both for the species and for coral reefs. Most palette surgeonfish in retail have been caught in the wild, and the catching methods are often damaging to the environment where the fishing takes place. It is also quite common that people who only get a fish because they have seen it in a movie do not know how to take care of it. This can lead to the animals being neglected or even dying. 

Born without a mouth

When palette surgeonfish spawn, the female lays her eggs and the male his milt into open water. The female can lay as many as 40,000 eggs at a time. The eggs hatch after only a day. The fry are far from fully developed: they have no mouth, no eyes, and the heart has not yet begun to beat. During the first few days, they live off of nutrition from the “yolk”. After a few days their fins have developed enough for them to be able to move around on their own, and eventually they can also begin to eat and see.