Powder blue tang
Amazing fact
Powder blue tangs have spines on either side of the base of the tail.
Aquarium of the Pacific
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Powder blue tangs have spines on either side of the base of the tail.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Powder blue tang
- Scientific name
- Acanthurus leucosternon
- Japanese name
- パウダーブルータン
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Acanthuridae
- Genus
- Acanthurus
Where the name “Powder blue tang” comes from
Tang in its English name means the part of a blade that fits into the handle.
新潟市水族館 マリンピア日本海True to its name, it is a surgeonfish (family Acanthuridae) with a powder-blue body.
How the Powder blue tang lives
They live in clear, shallow water around coral reefs. They graze on algae growing on the seabed. Their beak-like mouths can reach algae in narrow crevices. They feed in groups when food is plentiful.
Aquarium of the PacificBasic data
- Range
- Indian Ocean from eastern Africa to southern waters, southwestern Indonesia and Christmas Island, and Bali in the western Pacific
Where the Powder blue 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
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
- パウダーブルータン
- 简体中文
- 白胸刺尾鱼
- 繁體中文
- 白胸刺尾魚
- Español
- Cirujano azul cielo
- Français
- Chirurgien à Poitrine Blanche
- Deutsch
- Weißkehl-Doktorfisch
- Português (Brasil)
- Cirurgião-azul-claro
- Italiano
- Pesce chirurgo dalla gola bianca
- العربية
- باودر بلو
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Botana biru
- Русский
- Белогрудый хирург
- Türkçe
- Mavi Çavuş Balığı
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 — パウダーブルータンChecked: 2026-11-04
- Aquarium of the Pacific — Powder Blue TangChecked: 2026-11-07
- 新潟市水族館 マリンピア日本海 — パウダーブルータンChecked: 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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