---
title: "Pacific Sailfin Tang"
description: "Zebrasoma velifer — Fish. The sailfin tang (Zebrasoma velifer), the Pacific sailfin tang, purple sailfinned tang or sailfin surgeonfish, is a marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/pacific-sailfin-tang
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Pacific Sailfin Tang

> Zebrasoma velifer — Fish. The sailfin tang (Zebrasoma velifer), the Pacific sailfin tang, purple sailfinned tang or sailfin surgeonfish,  is a marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs.

- Scientific name: *Zebrasoma velifer*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast), `zoo` (Zoo & pets)
- iNaturalist observations: 3896
- Wikidata: [Q307219](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q307219)
- iNaturalist taxon: [424818](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/424818)

## Names

- en: Pacific Sailfin Tang
- de: Östlicher Segelflossen-Doktorfisch
- es: Pez Cirujano Vela
- fr: Chirurgien-voile du Pacifique
- it: Zebrasoma veliferum
- nl: Zeilvindoktersvis

## Countries with the most observations

US (890), NC (427), ID (312), AU (294), FJ (229), PF (191), JP (96), PW (65), GU (60), TW (58), MY (40), VU (35)

## Summary

The sailfin tang (Zebrasoma velifer), the Pacific sailfin tang, purple sailfinned tang or sailfin surgeonfish,  is a marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Acanthuridae which includes the surgeonfishes, unicornfishes and tangs. This fish is found in the Pacific Ocean and is popular in the aquarium hobby.

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

## Photo

![Pacific Sailfin Tang](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/pacific-sailfin-tang/medium.jpg)

Photo: Zoltán Stekkelpak · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/67073774

## Machine access

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