Ecology Summary - Acanthurus xanthopterus

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Main Ref.	Randall, J.E., 1956
Remarks	Commonly occurs in protected deeper waters of bays & lagoons. Lives in various reef habitats, sand slopes (Refs. 48637, 9773). Juveniles inhabit shallow, protected, turbid inshore waters while adults prefer deeper areas of protected bays and lagoons, and outer reef areas. This schooling species feeds on diatoms, detritus film of sand, filamentous algae, hydroids, pieces of fish (Ref. 1602, 48637) and fleshy macroalgae (Ref. 5543). Probably the only surgeonfish that readily takes bait (Ref. 12484). Either solitary or forms small groups. Herbivorous (Ref. 9773). Also Ref. 58534.

Main Ref.

Randall, J.E., 1956

Remarks

Commonly occurs in protected deeper waters of bays & lagoons. Lives in various reef habitats, sand slopes (Refs. 48637, 9773). Juveniles inhabit shallow, protected, turbid inshore waters while adults prefer deeper areas of protected bays and lagoons, and outer reef areas. This schooling species feeds on diatoms, detritus film of sand, filamentous algae, hydroids, pieces of fish (Ref. 1602, 48637) and fleshy macroalgae (Ref. 5543). Probably the only surgeonfish that readily takes bait (Ref. 12484). Either solitary or forms small groups. Herbivorous (Ref. 9773). Also Ref. 58534.

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Acanthurus xanthopterus may be found.

Habitat

Substrate
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats	Coral Reefs: reef slope/drop-offs; lagoons;
Special habitats Ref.	Dominici-Arosemena, A. and M. Wolff, 2006

Associations

Ref.
Associations	solitary;
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type	plants/detritus+animals (troph. 2.2-2.79)
Feeding type Ref.	Randall, J.E., 1985
Feeding habit	grazing on aquatic plants
Feeding habit Ref.	Randall, J.E., 1985

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition
From individual food items	2.87	0.23			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.

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