Reefs.org Forums

[N1N2EGT]

Calling all top gunners on this board. Need your expertise here. Seems like that these Yellow Tangs are showing more and more frequently from our divers/suppliers varieties. My understanding is that, these species are only being caught in Hawaiian waters or somewhere near. Or they are also abundantly available in Philippine area, just waiting to be discovered. Divers said they normally see them when it’s close to dusk.

[N1N2EGT]

another picture

[Raskal311]

All from in and around HI I believe. BTW what happen to the legislation that was supposed to limit the amount of yellow tangs taken? I was under the impression it passed. Reason why I ask is every supplier I’ve been too lately all have boat loads in stock.

[Jaime Baquero]

Back in 97-98 I visited all exporters in Manila a no one had a single Yellow Tang in stock. Also I visited Cartimar in Manila and found that the pet shops had Yellow tangs for sale. I asked where are those fish coming from and the answer from the sales people was.... Hawaii. It is possible that some of those fish were "introduced" in that area by irresponsible hobbyists or dealers.

Jaime

[Checker]

Doesn't surprise me Jaime.

[Project Reef]

Weird,... they look like flavescens/scopas hybrids too.

[rgbmatt]

All from in and around HI I believe. BTW what happen to the legislation that was supposed to limit the amount of yellow tangs taken? I was under the impression it passed. Reason why I ask is every supplier I’ve been too lately all have boat loads in stock.

The legislation you're talking about was a special-interest bill introduced this year by a local snorkel tour company. Although it was presented in the guise of fisheries management, it was really just a sneaky attempt to kill the aquarium industry in Hawaii for personal reasons. The bill proposed a limit of 5 yellow tangs a day, which was completely ridiculous - it'd be impossible for anybody to make a living with that number and all the research to date shows that the fishery is being harvested sustainably.

Fortunately, the bill did not pass.

[N1N2EGT]

Anyone else with any other ideas why is this specie now being caught here in PI? Also on some occasions, they would come in, part brownish and yellowish. And competely turned into a Brown Scopas once acclimated. Brown Scopas are very common here in PI.

Mr. Jaime, FYI; fish sold in Cartimar are all rejects. Meaning it did not meet the grade for export.

[LargeAngels]

looks like scopas. Look at the dots on the body.

[JeremyR]

Scopas tangs sometimes come in yellow, and "yellow scopas" tangs are exported to the US for a higher price than reg scopas or yellow flavescens from hawaii. Turning into "brown scopas" should be a big clue that it's not a "yellow tang" unless there is a new form of tang alchemy I'm not aware of.

[Mike R King]

The Yellow Tang (Z. flavescens) actually is found over a good sized geographical range. Fish base reports "Pacific Ocean: Ryukyu, Mariana, Marshall, Marcus, Wake and Hawaiian islands. Has been reported off the coast of Florida in the Western Central Atlantic" I have seen plenty in Guam. I wouldn't be supprised if they were found around the Northern Philippine Islands as well.


Mike

[PeterIMA]

A good book about tangs (that I found difficulty to obtain) was published by Rudi Kuiter and Helmut Debelius.

It is of interest that a number of species of tangs have regional color variants. The chocolate tang (Acanthurus pyroferus) can have yellow juveniles (that transform into brown adults). This is found in the Philippines but not in Indonesia.

The true yellow tang (Zebrasoma flavescens) has a range that is wider than Hawaii. It also occurs as far west as Japan. Kuiter's book has some photos of mixed schools of what look like both Zebrasoma scopas and Zebrasome flavescens taken off of Japan.

Perhaps Z. flavescens has spread to the Philippines associated with changes in ocean currents. I think the photos posted show true yellow tangs (Z. flavescens).

Peter

[Fish_dave]

I have had several yellow tangs come in shipments from the Philippines.
They seem to come in waves, often 10-12 will come then none for a few years.

Dave

[gdw]

... The true yellow tang (Acanthurus flavescens) ...

Acanthurus? ... hmmm ... not Zebrasoma (Bennett, 1828) ?

[PeterIMA]

Yes, I was mistaken. It is Zebrasoma flavescens.

Peter

[PeterIMA]

Some clarification. The tang that is normally yellow in the Philppines is the Pacific Mimic Tang (Acanthurus pyroferus). Juveniles vary in color geographically, and mimic various species of angelfish (such as Centropyge haraldi which is yellow, Centropyge vrolikii the half black angel and the lemonpeel angel C. flavissimus). This tang has a different body shape than the yellow tang (Zebrazoma flavescens). Anyway, my second paragraph referred to Acanthurus pyroferus.

The last paragraph referred to the Brown Sailfin Tang (Zebrasoma scopas) that has the same body shape as Zebrasoma flavescens. It has been found to co-occur with Z. scopas off of Japan. Kuiter and Debelius depicted a yellow Z. scopas that apparently went from brown to yellow in a public aquarium. They also questioned whether Z. flavescens was the same species as Z. scopas.

Peter