Twotone tang

Amazing fact

Young twotone tangs dart into gaps between coral branches when startled.

宇久井ビジターセンター

Twotone tang in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

Young twotone tangs dart into gaps between coral branches when startled.

Source宇久井ビジターセンター — ゴマハギ

THE REAL WORLD

The real Twotone tang

Scientific name: Zebrasoma scopas
Japanese name: ゴマハギ
Group: Ocean animals

Order: Perciformes
Family: Acanthuridae
Genus: Zebrasoma

Facts about the real animal.

It lives from Hachijo Island, the Ogasawara Islands and the Ryukyu Islands to Taiwan and the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

鳥羽水族館 — ゴマハギ

Its body is either dark or yellow.

鳥羽水族館 — ゴマハギ

The white spine at the base of its tail is its trademark.

鳥羽水族館 — ゴマハギ

How the Twotone tang lives

It lives on reef slopes in the tidal zone and below it. It mainly eats small red algae growing on the seabed. Adult pairs defend a shared feeding territory. It changes color during courtship.

U.S. Geological Survey

Basic data

Range: Hachijo Island, Ogasawara Islands, Ryukyu Islands, southern Taiwan, Pratas Islands, Spratly Islands, and elsewhere

鳥羽水族館

Where the Twotone tang has been recorded

Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF

Where it livesJapan World oceans Ocean

Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.

Names around the world

日本語: ゴマハギ
简体中文: 小高鳍刺尾鱼
繁體中文: 小高鰭刺尾鯛
Español: Cirujano marrón
Français: Chirurgien Brun
Deutsch: Weißdorn-Segelflossendoktor
Português (Brasil): Cirurgião-marrom
Italiano: Pesce chirurgo marrone
Bahasa Indonesia: Ikan burung laut
Tiếng Việt: Cà Đuôi gai nâu hồng
ไทย: ปลาขี้ตังเบ็ดดำ

Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.

Sources and how we check

鳥羽水族館 — ゴマハギChecked: 2026-11-04
宇久井ビジターセンター — ゴマハギChecked: 2026-11-07
U.S. Geological Survey — Brown Tang (Zebrasoma scopas) - Species ProfileChecked: 2026-11-07

We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.

The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.

The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.

This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.

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