Naso - Unicornfishes
Description
Naso is a genus of fish in the surgeonfish family, Acanthuridae. Fish of this genus are known commonly as unicornfishes because of the rostral protuberance, a hornlike extension of the forehead present in some species.
Unicorn fish are very popular with spearfishermen in Hawaii and often cook them by grilling them whole. Unicornfish primarily live around coral reefs and eat mostly algae.
This genus is distributed across the Indo-Pacific from Africa to Hawaii.
The 20 currently recognized species in this genus:
Naso annulatus (Quoy & Gaimard, 1825) – whitemargin unicornfish
Naso brachycentron (Valenciennes, 1835) – humpback unicornfish
Naso brevirostris (G. Cuvier, 1829) – short-nosed unicornfish, spotted unicornfish
Naso caeruleacauda J. E. Randall, 1994 – bluetail unicornfish, blue unicorn
Naso caesius J. E. Randall & Bell, 1992 – gray unicornfish
Naso elegans (Rüppell, 1829) – elegant unicornfish, orange-spine unicorn
Naso fageni Morrow, 1954 – horseface unicornfish
Naso hexacanthus (Bleeker, 1855) – sleek unicornfish, blacktongue unicorn
Naso lituratus (J. R. Forster, 1801) – orangespine unicornfish
Naso lopezi Herre, 1927 – elongated unicornfish
Naso maculatus J. E. Randall & Struhsaker, 1981 – spotted unicornfish
Naso mcdadei J. W. Johnson, 2002 – squarenose unicornfish
Naso minor (J. L. B. Smith, 1966) – slender unicorn
Naso reticulatus J. E. Randall, 2001 – reticulated unicornfish
Naso tergus H. C. Ho, K. N. Shen & C. W. Chang, 2011
Naso thynnoides (G. Cuvier, 1829) – oneknife unicornfish
Naso tonganus (Valenciennes, 1835) – bulbnose unicornfish
Naso tuberosus Lacépède, 1801 – humpnose unicornfish
Naso unicornis (Forsskål, 1775) – bluespine unicornfish
Naso vlamingii (Valenciennes, 1835) – bignose unicornfish
