What is this fish??

[KidK9]

Ok, this may be the last identification request I have (until I go on my next trip!). I was wondering if anyone could identify this fish with common name and scientific name for me. It was shot off Molokini, in Hawaii.

 

[mjh]

It is some kind of swallow tail tang, sorry don't have the ID book around.

 

[maractwin]

It's an orange shouldered tang, Acanthurus olivaceus.

-Mark

 

[Charlie99]

It's an orange shouldered tang, Acanthurus olivaceus.

-Mark

More commonly called the orangeband surgeonfish around here.


(Unless the original poster is referring to the smaller fish, the Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse, Labroides phthirophagus Randall 1958.)

 

[KidK9]

Thanks! I actually did want both fish, so thank you very much.

 

[maractwin]

More commonly called the orangeband surgeonfish around here.

Why do scuba divers and aquarium hobbyists often have different common names for the same fish? I've learned a lot of fish species through the aquarium hobby, where they have fairly consistent names. Then I try to talk about these fish with divers, and discover a different set of names in use. This is part of what's gotten me to start memorizing Latin names. Well, that and the amount of diving I'm doing with ichthyologists these days.

-Mark

 

[paulwall]

Ok, this may be the last identification request I have (until I go on my next trip!). I was wondering if anyone could identify this fish with common name and scientific name for me. It was shot off Molokini, in Hawaii.

The smaller fish from (http://library.thinkquest.org/J002237/fish/wrasses.htm) is the Hawaii cleaner wrasse.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Why do scuba divers and aquarium hobbyists often have different common names for the same fish?

A multi-faceted answer... aquarium fish sellers use the name that sells the most fish, that is, the "market name." Sometimes the market name is a made-up thing to cover an unattractive common name. Divers generally use the local name for wherever they first learned the name of the fish.
If you were raised on the coast of LA (Lower Alabama) you learned dolphin, ling, hardtail and skipjack for dorado, cobia, yellow jack and ladyfish; on the west coast and in most restaurants nowdays the dolphin/dorado is "Mahi Mahi" - because the name sells better.
I mean, who'd buy a "chinese gooseberry?"
Most of you, probably, but not under that name
Rick

 

[f3nikon]

A multi-faceted answer... aquarium fish sellers use the name that sells the most fish, that is, the "market name." Sometimes the market name is a made-up thing to cover an unattractive common name. Divers generally use the local name for wherever they first learned the name of the fish.
If you were raised on the coast of LA (Lower Alabama) you learned dolphin, ling, hardtail and skipjack for dorado, cobia, yellow jack and ladyfish; on the west coast and in most restaurants nowdays the dolphin/dorado is "Mahi Mahi" - because the name sells better.
I mean, who'd buy a "chinese gooseberry?"
Most of you, probably, but not under that name
Rick

Right on the money, good examples.

As for the fish in the picture, the "scalpel" on the base of the tail usually means its part of the surgeon family, nice lyretail type.

 

[Rooster]

Well, that and the amount of diving I'm doing with ichthyologists these days.

-Mark

I think you can get a pill for that.:14: