Easter Island Surgeonfish (endemic)

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An endemic subspecies of the convict tang found only at Easter Island, these surgeonfish form large feeding schools on the exposed reef in front of Ana Kai Tangata, grazing on turf algae and keeping the substrate open for coral recruitment. They are a textbook example of island endemism driven by the island's extreme isolation — the closest population of the parent species is over 3,000 km away. Their abundance here is a sign of relatively intact herbivore populations compared to many Pacific reef systems.