Yellowspotted sawtail

Taxobox
name = Yellowspotted sawtail


image_caption = Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Perciformes
familia = Acanthuridae
genus = "Prionurus"
species = "P. maculatus"
binomial = "Prionurus maculatus"
binomial_authority = Ogilby, 1887

The yellowspotted sawtail, "Prionurus maculatus", is a tang of the family Acanthuridae, found in the southwest Pacific Ocean on rocky or coral reefs. Length is up to 45 cm.

The yellowspotted sawtail is a deep-bodied fish with a pointed snout, small fins, and a distinctive long-lobed caudal fin. Like all members of this family it has a sharp spine on each side of the caudal peduncle.

Yellowspotted sawtail are a uniform dark blue-grey in colour with numerous small red-orange spots on the body and fins.

It is herbivorous, feeding on a variety of small seaweeds.

References

*
* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, "Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand", (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8