Facts and Features of Coastal Water Tang

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Acanthuridae
Genre: Zebrasoma
Common Name: Tang
Scientific Name: Acanthuridae
Origin: India, the Pacific
Diet: Omnivorous
Size (L): 16 cm - 40 cm (6 inches - 16 inches)
Water Type: Salt
optimum level of pH: 8.0 to 8.5
Duration of the life:12-15 years
Condition: Threatened
Color: Black, Yellow, Red, Blue, Silver
Skin: Scales
Favorite food: Seaweed
Habitat: superficial tropical coral reefs
Average clutch size: 40,000
Prey also: algae, fish, plankton
Attackers: Fish, eel, shellfish
Special features: Pointed snout and razor-sharp scalpel at the end of their tail

The tang is a small to medium sized fish found in warm coastal waters of the tropics.The tangs are well known for their bright colors and are closely attached to surgeon fish and unicorn fish.

There are around  80 species of tang,which lives in tropical waters of the southern hemisphere, as the largest species tang group , the white margin unicorn fish has been known to grow around a meter long.

Tangs are  found around shallow coral reefs where there is large supply of food and places to hide from predators.The tangs is the name due to  razor -sharp scalpel (also known as tang ) on the base of the tail. When tang gets  threatened ,hides in a crevice in  rocks and appears using  scalpel.Scalpel on the base of the tail  can also be used to defend if trapped.

Although the tang is an omnivorous animal ,but also has vegetarian diet .Tang feed mainly on algae and other plants around coral reefs and collect food particles from larger plankton inside water.Tang species later also eat small invertebrates and fish. Because  tang love algae, tang is also  seen with  sea turtles as they swim alongside them cleaning  algae from their shells .

For  its small size, the tang has many predators in the shallow marine environment , including larger fish, eels , sharks , crustaceans and large invertebrates such as jellyfish .Tangs are also kept in  artificial aquariums by humans.

The tangs are known to breed throughout the year in tropical regions ,starting with a male tang and securing himself with a temporary breeding territory of a pair or group of females.The female tang releases an average of 40 000 eggs in the water which are then fertilized by male.Baby tang are known as fry and comes out  in less than a week.

The tang  is one of the most popular species of marine fish which are kept in tanks and aquariums.People are charmed by the peaceful and gentle nature, along with their bright colors and the fact that the tang can live for a long time ( the average is between 12 and 15 years ),compared to other marine fish species of same size.

Tangs are not recommended to stay in small aquariums as tang has the potential to be quite large.The most common type of tang kept in salt water aquariums are the yellow one and bright blue regal tang but instead of  the fact that tangs are  popular ,they need to be well maintained and have to be kept in specific water conditions .