Powder Blue Tang Acanthurus leucosternon

The Powder Blue Tang, also called Powder Blue Surgeonfish, is native to tropical reefs of the Indian Ocean.

Tangs are also known as Surgeonfish because of the sharp, scalpel-like spines at each side before the tail. These are used to defend against rivals and predators. Many tangs, confusingly, have a different common name as surgeonfish, but the Powder Blue has only the one.

An attractive, almost cartoonlike, fish, the Powder Blue Tang can grow to some 25 cm long. Unlike some Tang, the juveniles are a small version of the adult colourscheme.

Although they sometimes feed in shoals on a reef where food is plentiful, they are usually solitary and territorial.

Diet is mainly algae and plankton.