---
title: "Caribbean Ocean Surgeonfish"
description: "Acanthurus tractus — Pesci. Acanthurus tractus, the five-band surgeonfish, ocean surgeon, or ocean surgeonfish, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Acanthuridae found in the western Atlantic Ocean, Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/caribbean-ocean-surgeonfish
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Caribbean Ocean Surgeonfish

> Acanthurus tractus — Pesci. Acanthurus tractus, the five-band surgeonfish, ocean surgeon, or ocean surgeonfish, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Acanthuridae found in the western Atlantic Ocean, Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

- Scientific name: *Acanthurus tractus*
- Category: `fish` (Pesci)
- Habitats: `sea` (Mare e costa)
- iNaturalist observations: 4449
- iNaturalist taxon: [871060](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/871060)

## Names

- en: Caribbean Ocean Surgeonfish
- de: Fünfband-Doktorfisch
- es: Cirujano pardo
- fr: Chirurgien noir

## Countries with the most observations

MX (578), US (308), PR (290), BS (199), CW (188), GP (172), VI (146), JM (134), MQ (134), KY (121), BL (102), AW (100)

## Summary

Acanthurus tractus, the five-band surgeonfish, ocean surgeon, or ocean surgeonfish, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Acanthuridae found in the western Atlantic Ocean, Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Until recently, it was considered a synonym of Acanthurus bahianus, but its status as a separate species was resurrected in 2011.

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

## Photo

![Caribbean Ocean Surgeonfish](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/caribbean-ocean-surgeonfish/medium.jpg)

Photo: Daniel Estabrooks · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/163105621

## Machine access

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