Common Name: Sailfin Tang
Distribution: Uncommon to rare in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Pacific Ocean: from Indonesia to the Hawaiian and Tuamoto Islands, north to southern Japan, south to New Caledonia and Rapa Island. In Australia recorded from Geraldton to the North West Shelf region of Western Australia, from the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, south to northern New South Wales.
Ecological Notes: Frequents lagoons and seaward reefs, with juveniles often among rocks and coral of shallow protected waters, including turbid reefs. Depth to 30 m.
Additional Notes: Yellow face, black, yellow and white bars with a yellow tail. Very long dorsal and anal fins give a disc shape appearance when flared. Related Brown Tang, Zebrasoma scopas has much narrower stripes, dark tail and white scute at the caudal peduncle. Feeds on leafy macroalgae. Grows to 40 cm.
References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.437.
Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=zebrasoma+veliferum. Accessed 03/07/18.
FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Zebrasoma-veliferum.html. Accessed 03/07/18.