DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

ZOOGEOGRAPHY

ECOLOGY

BIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR

VALUE OF FISH RESOURCES

CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT

DANGEROUS MARINE FISHES

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SPECIES INDEX

CHAMORRO NAMES

ACANTHURIDAE (SURGEONFISHES)

Acanthurus triostegus (Linnaeus)
(Convict Tang; Kichu)
SL: to 14 cm (photo: by Anne Maben, 10 cm SL, Apra Harbor,
          3 m)

This is one of Guam’s most abundant surgeonfishes , occurring in nearly all hard-bottomed areas of both protected and exposed reefs from 0 to over 30 m.  It is most abundant on outer reef flats and shallow, seaward reefs where it occurs in vast schools which sometimes include scarids, siganids, and other acanthurids.  Through sheer numbers, members of these schools collectively overcome the defenses of territorial herbivores as they roam the reef grazing on filamentous algae.  Juvenile Convict Tangs settle and grow in tidepools and shallow patches of dead staghorn coral rubble.

INDO-PAN-PACIFIC & TROPICAL E. ATLANTIC: S.E. Africa to Panama, n. to s. Japan, s. to Lord Howe, including all tropical and subtropical island group of the Indo-Pacific.