MythscribeMundus
THE NATURAL & IMAGINED WORLDAn illustrated compendium
NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Red Sea surgeonfish

Acanthurus sohal (Forsskål, 1775)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Sohal Surgeonfish (Acanthurus sohal)

Sohal Surgeonfish (Acanthurus sohal)

Andrew Deacon · CC0 · Image source

Provider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.

Open encyclopedia reference

The sohal surgeonfish (Acanthurus sohal) or sohal tang, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs. This fish is found in the northwestern Indian Ocean.

Wikipedia contributors, Sohal surgeonfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:32:48.357882+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Acanthurus sohal (Forsskål, 1775)
Name authority
(Forsskål, 1775)
Common name
Red Sea surgeonfish
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Teleostei
Order
Acanthuriformes
Family
Acanthuridae
Genus
Acanthurus
Extinction status
Not supplied by this source

Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. gigaclassActinopterygii
  8. superclassActinopteri
  9. classTeleostei
  10. orderAcanthuriformes
  11. familyAcanthuridae Bonaparte, 1835
  12. genusAcanthurus Forsskål, 1775
  13. speciesAcanthurus sohal (Forsskål, 1775)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Acanthurus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
lined surgeonfishAcanthurus lineatus (Linnaeus, 1758)AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
backsurgeonfishAcanthurus nigricans (Linnaeus, 1758)AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthurus albipectoralis Allen & Ayling, 1987AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthurus chronixis Randall, 1960AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
eyestripe surgeonfishAcanthurus dussumieri Valenciennes, 1835AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthurus grammoptilus Richardson, 1843AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthurus japonicus (Schmidt, 1931)AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthurus leucocheilus Herre, 1927AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthurus leucopareius (Jenkins, 1903)AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
powder-blue surgeonfishAcanthurus leucosternon Bennett, 1833AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
blue-lined surgeonfishAcanthurus mata (Cuvier, 1829)AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Acanthurus monroviae Steindachner, 1876AcanthuridaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 63 records assigned to Acanthuridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Choetodon sohab (Forsskål, 1775) (Forsskål, 1775)synonym
Chaetodon sohal Forsskål, 1775 Forsskål, 1775synonym
Ctenodon ruppelii (Swainson, 1839) (Swainson, 1839)synonym
Acanthurus carinatus Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801synonym
Aspisurus sohar (Forsskål, 1775) (Forsskål, 1775)synonym
Chaetodon sohar (Forsskål, 1775) (Forsskål, 1775)synonym

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=219649 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:92QW. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.