This marine life conservation district did not disappoint
It didn’t take long to see a lot of fish on the snorkel trip to Kealakekua Bay on the big island of Hawai’i. I was snorkeling there for my wife’s birthday. It was her first opportunity to go out on a boat to experience some top-notch snorkeling on a coral reef. This marine life conservation district did not disappoint. We were immediately greeted with all sorts of fish as soon as we dipped under the water. You will find links to some of those other fish throughout this gallery.
This was one of the last photos that we took before ending the day. We had broken up the snorkel in two parts, before and after lunch. Pictured here is a goldring surgeonfish. Its scientific name is Ctenochaetus strigosus. Knowing this fish’s scientific name is important because it has so many common names: kole tang, spotted bristletooth, yellow-eyed surgeonfish, spotted surgeonfish, goldring bristletooth, and yelloweye tang. It belongs to the Acanthuridae family of fish that includes surgeonfishes, unicornfishes, and tangs.
The goldring surgeonfish is a marine ray-finned fish that can be identified by its 25 to 28 soft rays on its dorsal fin that also has 8 spines. Its anal fin has 3 spines with 22 to 25 soft rays. It is purplish to brown in color with longitudinal blue lines. There is a yellow ring around its eyes. They have yellow pectoral fins. The mouth of the goldring surgeonfish is blue. They grow to a length of 6 inches.
The Ctenochaetus genus is known as the bristletooth tang genus. It contains nine recognized species: twospot sturgeonfish, short-tail bristle-tooth, whitetail bristletooth, chevron tang, striped-fin surgeonfish, striated surgeonfish, tomini surgeonfish, Indian gold-ring bristle-tooth, and the goldring surgeonfish.
The goldring surgeonfish is endemic to Hawai’i
Did you know?
- The English zoologist, Edward Turner Bennett, was the first to formally describe this fish in 1828.
- The goldring surgeonfish is endemic to Hawai’i.
- The family, Acanthuridae, name comes from the Ancient Greek word, akantha, which means spine, and oura, which means tail.
- The Ctenochaetus strigosus species is the largest of the bristletooth tang genus.
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