Powderblue surgeonfish

Salad for colourful fish

A fish that looks like a head of lettuce? No, not even in the MEERESMUSEUM is there such a thing. The lettuce in the aquarium does not belong among the well-camouflaged fish, as they are observed in some of the display pools. The floating head of lettuce is a very ordinary vegetable that serves as food. Surgeonfish are fond of salad – if there is no other or better nutrition available.

Normally surgeonfish, which occur in tropical coral reefs in more than 80 species and playful colours, prefer algae as food. In well occupied aquariums, however, this sometimes is not possible due to the large appetites of algae eaters. This is an advantage for visitors, as the aquarium windows are always well cleaned. But this is a disadvantage for the surgeonfish, which starve. That is why the aquarists manage sometimes to get their charges fed and keep them happy with the heads of lettuce.

Surgeonfish got their name, not because they keep their aquarium clinically clean, but due to the "scalpel" or horn-like spines in the tail, which usually also have a different colour from the rest of the body. Sometimes slightly toxic, these razor sharp blades are a dangerous defensive weapon.

In the tropical aquarium at the MEERESMUSEUM more than 20 species of surgeonfish can be found. These reef inhabitants provide a dazzling blaze of colour, such as the Yellow or Purple tang, or a varied play of colour, such as the Achilles tang or the Blue surgeonfish, and a striking shape, such as with the Unicorn fish.