Citrus(yellow)tang???

[Still_human]

Does anyone know what a citrus tang is? From everything I can gather, they are yellow tangs from Guam. Are they orange? What’s the difference between them and regular yellow tangs? Also, I see them listed as Zebrasoma sp., not zebrasoma flavescens.

[sethsolomon]

my bet would be its a yellow tang that prefers a red algae diet.

[Still_human]

On 3/9/2020 at 1:11 PM, sethsolomon said:

my bet would be its a yellow tang that prefers a red algae diet.

Are they orange? Or have an orange hue, or something? We’re wondering why they’re called citrus in the first place. That’s a good idea of why, if they ARE more orange.

[DFR]

On 3/9/2020 at 12:46 PM, Still_human said:

Does anyone know what a citrus tang is? From everything I can gather, they are yellow tangs from Guam. Are they orange? What’s the difference between them and regular yellow tangs? Also, I see them listed as Zebrasoma sp., not zebrasoma flavescens.

You are correct, they are just regular yellow tangs.  
 

As for the “sp” distinction.  This is an easy way to refer to a specific species in a given genus (in this case flavescens).  Inversely if it was written as “spp” the description you read would be pointing to ALL species in that genus.

[Still_human]

On 3/11/2020 at 12:26 PM, DFR said:

You are correct, they are just regular yellow tangs.  
 

As for the “sp” distinction.  This is an easy way to refer to a specific species in a given genus (in this case flavescens).  Inversely if it was written as “spp” the description you read would be pointing to ALL species in that genus.

So they have no unusual coloration or hue, or anything, it’s just a jerky marketing technique? 

Mans cool, thanks, I never knew then exact idea behind sp.spp. I always thought when they used “sp.” it was saying it’s a subspecies, or enough of an abnormality that could be/become a subspecies. And I guess I would’ve assumed spp. Was either interchangeable, or a typo lol

[DFR]

Don’t think it’s a marketing gimmick, just what they are called in that region.  I don’t think I ever saw one sold under that name though.

[treesprite]

All the names in different regions is why it is good to know the species names. 

[Still_human]

On 3/12/2020 at 2:58 PM, DFR said:

Don’t think it’s a marketing gimmick, just what they are called in that region.  I don’t think I ever saw one sold under that name though.

Yeah, it was very confusing. They were listed separately from yellow tangs on a suppliers list, not by the people of the region who might call them that. You’d think they would list them as yellow tangs, or at LEAST list them as zebrasoma flavescens if that’s what they really are, instead of zebrasoma sp. That’s the part that makes the least sense to me now. Even if they felt like they REALLY should leave out “yellow tang”, calling it anything but “zebrasoma flavescens” just seems inaccurate.

[DFR]

My guess would be that those were collected in Guam.  Shoot the supplier (or vendor) an email, they should be able to shed some clarity on this.