Three Yellow Fish, Three Different Species

The first fish that people usually think of when they see a yellow fish is, Yellow Tang!  But not all yellow fishes are Yellow Tangs.  Two surgeonfish have juvenile stages that closely resemble the Yellow Tang, they are the Orangebar Surgeonfish and the Goldring Surgeonfish.  Keep these pictures in mind when doing a REEF survey, remember if you are unsure of the species, it’s ok to leave it out!  🙂

These are the stages of the Orangebar Surgeonfish:

These are the stages of the Goldring Surgeonfish:  Notice how the juvenile has faint blue horizontal stripes on it’s side, like the adult.

These are the stages of the Yellow Tang:  Notice the white scapel that is present on both stages.