---
title: "Mimic Surgeonfish"
description: "Acanthurus pyroferus — Fish. Acanthurus pyroferus, also known as the chocolate surgeonfish, mimic surgeonfish, orange-gilled surgeonfish, Pacific mimic surgeon, and yellowspot surgeon, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, which includes the sugeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/mimic-surgeonfish
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Mimic Surgeonfish

> Acanthurus pyroferus — Fish. Acanthurus pyroferus, also known as the chocolate surgeonfish, mimic surgeonfish, orange-gilled surgeonfish, Pacific mimic surgeon, and yellowspot surgeon, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, which includes the sugeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs.

- Scientific name: *Acanthurus pyroferus*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 1451
- Wikidata: [Q3042764](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3042764)
- iNaturalist taxon: [153279](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/153279)

## Names

- en: Mimic Surgeonfish
- de: Pazifischer Mimikry-Doktorfisch
- es: Pez Cirujano Imitador
- fr: Chirurgien porteur de feu

## Countries with the most observations

ID (499), PH (132), FJ (109), PF (101), VU (37), SB (34), MY (33), NC (30), GU (24), PG (21), TL (21), MH (20)

## Summary

Acanthurus pyroferus, also known as the chocolate surgeonfish, mimic surgeonfish, orange-gilled surgeonfish, Pacific mimic surgeon, and yellowspot surgeon, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae, which includes the sugeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs. This species is found in the Indo-Pacific region.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acanthurus_pyroferus

## Photo

![Mimic Surgeonfish](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/mimic-surgeonfish/medium.jpg)

Photo: Justin Philbois · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/256461760

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/mimic-surgeonfish?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).