Naso articles - Encyclopedia of Life

Naso (fish)

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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.^[2] Unicorn fish are popular with spearfishermen^[3] and may be cooked by grilling them whole.^[4] Unicornfish primarily live around coral reefs and eat mostly algae.^[5] It is very popular in Maldives.

This genus is distributed across the Indo-Pacific from Africa to Hawaii.^[6]

Species

The 20 currently recognized species in this genus are:^[7]

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