Acanthurus coeruleus Bloch & Schneider, 1801

Triay-Portella, Raül, Pajuelo, José G., Manent, Pablo, Espino, Fernando, Ruiz-Díaz, Raquel, Lorenzo, José M. & González, José A., 2015, New records of non-indigenous fishes (Perciformes and Tetraodontiformes) from the Canary Islands (north-eastern Atlantic), Cybium 39 (3), pp. 163-174 : 169

Acanthurus coeruleus Bloch & Schneider, 1801 , blue tang surgeonfish

Material examined. – Two specimens, dike Reina Sofía, 28°07’N 15°24’W, rocky breakwater: MMF44369 , one maturing female, 237 mm TL, 188 mm SL, 12 m over a bottom of 21 m of depth, 9 Feb. 2015 ( Fig. 2I ); ICCM401 , one immature male, 276 mm TL, 211 mm SL, 18-19 m over a bottom of 21 m of depth, 21 Mar . 2015.

Sightings and catches. – Twice, n = 2, same locality ( Fig. 3 ).

Remarks. – A tropical reef-associated species, living from 2 to 40 m of depth ( Desoutter, 1990), usually at 2-18 m, between 24 and 26°C ( Baensch and Debelius, 1997), ranging 42°N, 15°S, 100°W- 4°W ( Robins and Ray, 1986). Inhabits coral reefs, inshore grassy or rocky areas. Forms small groups ( Coupal et al., 1992). Mainly diurnal. Feeds entirely on algae ( Böhlke and Chaplin, 1993). Maximum length published is 390 mm TL ( Figueiredo and Menezes, 2000). It seems to be primarily a western Atlantic species, known from New York, USA and Bermuda to southern Brazil. Also reported from the mid-Atlantic island of Ascension ( Cadenat and Marchal, 1963; Lubbock, 1980; Desoutter, 1990; Bingeman and Bingeman, 2005; Wirtz et al., 2014; Anderson et al., 2015).

This is the first record for A. coeruleus from the Canary Islands.

Figures

Figure 2. - Non-native species introduced to the Canaries. A: Holocentrus adscensionis; B: Cephalopholis taeniops; C: Paranthias furcifer; D: Prognathodes marcellae; E: Abudefduf saxatilis; F: Abudefduf hoefleri; G: Acanthurus bahianus; H: Acanthurus coeruleus; I: Acanthurus chirurgus; J: Acanthurus monroviae; K: Cantherhines pullus. Scale bars = 5 cm.

Figure 3. - Collection locations for the new records from the Canaries. 1: Holocentrus adscensionis, 2: Cephalopholis taeniops, 3: Paranthias furcifer, 4: Prognathodes marcellae, 5: Abudefduf saxatilis, 6: Abudefduf hoefleri, 7: Acanthurus bahianus, 8: Acanthurus coeru- leus, 9: Acanthurus chirurgus, 10: Acanthurus monroviae, 11: Cantherhines pullus.