The purple tang is a marine

Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...

 reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

 tang

Acanthuridae

Acanthuridae is the family of surgeonfishes, tangs, and unicornfishes. The family includes about 80 species in six genera, all of which are marine fish living in tropical seas, usually around coral reefs...

 in the fish family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Acanthuridae

Acanthuridae

Acanthuridae is the family of surgeonfishes, tangs, and unicornfishes. The family includes about 80 species in six genera, all of which are marine fish living in tropical seas, usually around coral reefs...

. The fish grows to a maximum length of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) in the wild but rarely surpasses 20 centimetres (7.9 inches) in captivity. Zebrasoma xanthurum inhabits the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

, the west coast of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, the east coast of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, and the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

, where it may live at water depths of 1 to 20 metres (3 to 65 feet) or more.
Zebrasoma xanthurum is a popular fish in the aquarium trade. It is a herbivorous fish eating primarily filamentous algae. Zebrasoma xanthurum is omnivorous in its juvenile stage, but becomes increasingly herbivorous as it matures.

In aquaria

In the home aquarium, Zebrasoma xanthurum prefers a large, well established tropical marine reef system of 100 gallons or more with ample rock for grazing. Food in the form of marine macroalgae should be offered multiple times daily, Purple Tangs will also readily accept most forms of flake and frozen food. Although this is a generally peaceful fish, it should be introduced last into the home aquarium in order to avoid territorial disputes.

In the home aquarium, Zebrasoma xanthurum faces two major challenges. It is especially vulnerable to parasites such as Cryptocaryon Irritans and Amyloodinium Occelatum, and it is susceptible to head and lateral line erosion (HLLE). Both parasites and HLLE are both best addressed by offering a vitamin and highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) enriched diet and by utilizing a thorough quarantine process.