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Japan surgeonfish

Amazing fact

The Japan surgeonfish has an entirely yellow tail base.

粟国村
Japan surgeonfish in its habitat (illustration)

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An illustration based on the real animal.

A little discovery to share.

The Japan surgeonfish has an entirely yellow tail base.

Source粟国村 — ナミダクロハギ

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THE REAL WORLD

The real Japan surgeonfish

Scientific name
Acanthurus japonicus
Japanese name
ナミダクロハギ
Group
Ocean animals
Order
Perciformes
Family
Acanthuridae
Genus
Acanthurus
Facts about the real animal.
01

It lives from Hachijo Island, the Ogasawara Islands and the Ryukyu Islands to the seas around Taiwan, the Philippines and Palau.

鳥羽水族館 — ナミダクロハギ
02

It usually has a white, teardrop-like mark below its eye.

鳥羽水族館 — ナミダクロハギ
03

This white mark can sometimes fade away when the fish is under stress.

鳥羽水族館 — ナミダクロハギ

How the Japan surgeonfish lives

It is found alone or in groups on shallow coral reef slopes and in reef lagoons.

粟国村

Basic data

Range
Hachijo Island, Ogasawara Islands, Tokara Islands, Ryukyu Islands, Minamidaito Island, southern Taiwan, and elsewhere
鳥羽水族館

Where the Japan surgeonfish has been recorded

World map with dots where the Japan surgeonfish has been recorded
Each dot marks a place with observations or specimens shared on GBIF. Some records are of animals that strayed or were brought by people, so the dots are not always where the animal lives.

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

Where it livesJapanWorld oceansCoral reefs

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

简体中文
日本刺尾鱼
繁體中文
日本刺尾鯛
Português (Brasil)
Cirurgião-japonês
Bahasa Indonesia
Botana kacamata

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

Sources and how we check

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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