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Black Surgeonfish
Acanthurus gahhm
Acanthurus gahhm, the black surgeonfish, monk surgeonfish or lined surgeonfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes or tangs. This fish is found in the western Indian Ocean.
From the article Acanthurus gahhm on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
This fish reaches up to 50 centimeters in length. It is oval in shape and laterally compressed. Like other surgeonfishes, it swims with its pectoral fins. The caudal fin has a crescent shape. The mouth is small and pointed. The body is black to dark brown, with a white ring around the base of the tail and a yellow stripe around the eyes. The pectoral fins are tipped with yellow.
Range & habitat
Acanthurus gahhm is found in the north-western Indian Ocean where it is endemic to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, records farther east are likely to be misidentifications of A. nigricauda.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
In human culture
Acanthurus gahhm has a specific name, gahhm, which is an Arabic word for surgeonfish in the Red Sea. It was thought to have been used by Peter Forsskål in 1755 but was described as an Arabic common name and not used as a valid specific name until Gmelin used it in 1789.
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Acanthurus gahhm in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 93074.