Blue Tang

The blue tang is a dark, almost triangular surgeonfish, blue to deep purple in colour, that carries a razor-sharp, high-contrast yellow spine on its tail.

It lives singly or in small schools over inshore grass and rocky areas of protected, shallow reefs rich in algae growth, and feeds exclusively on algae.

The tail spine is the feature to look for. It stands out against the dark body, yellow in most fish and pale yellow to white in some, and it rests in a horizontal groove on the tail peduncle. The spine works as a weapon when the fish lashes its tail from side to side, and that scalpel-like edge is where surgeonfish get their name.

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