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Naso hexacanthus

Ume

Blacktongue Unicornfish

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Blacktongue Unicornfish, Sleek Unicornfish, Black Unicornfish; German Blauschwanz-Nasendoktor; French Nason Gris, Nason à Langue Noire, Nason Lisse

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Ume (RR TS TW), Umeume < Ume < Poko-toki (AT), Umeume (AK), Ume Tahe (MH), Ume Atu (PK); Other Polynesian - Ume Kuripo (TAH), Ume Mauri (MQA)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Ducie, Hawai‘i; n. to s.Japan; s. to Lord Howe

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group and N.Group. Uncommon.; Marine, near-shore, Mid-water outer reef-slope below 20m

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Prized food; Injurous spines - moderate

SIMILAR SPECIES: Naso caesius (Micronesia - GBR - Pitcairn, Hawaii) large males have white tongue (vs black tongue), rounded tail-blades (vs forwarded pointed blades), w/wo pales blotches on sides (vs. wo pale blotches), and undistinguished preopercular and opercular margins (vs. sometimes dark margined).

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
	P		QP		P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Naso hexacanthus (Bleeker, 1855)
SYNONYMS: Priodon hexacanthus [O]; Naso thorpei

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Perciformes; Acanthuroidei; ACANTHURIDAE, Nasinae. COMMENT: SciName J.E.Randall pers.comm. 3/2000, not Eschmeyer.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: specimens ID N.Sims (Sims88); 2 specimens outer reef photos, to BPBM, ID J.E.Randall as Naso thorpei (Sims88) a synonym of Naso hexacanthus (Randall&Bell 1992). Manihiki: specimen lagoon 5m, to BPBM, ID J.E.Randall as Naso thorpei (Sims88) a synonym of Naso hexacanthus (Randall&Bell 1992). Pukapuka: fieldspecimen+photo, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Naso hexacanthus. Suwarrow: noted in (Sims EIA99).

References:
text p.250 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
plate 131a Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.430 Randall et al. (1990) Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef....
p.591 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 128-10 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
plate 93-05 Allen (1997) Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia....

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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