{"id":15837,"date":"2024-12-11T00:04:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T05:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/twospot-bristletooth-tang\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T23:59:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T04:59:28","slug":"twospot-bristletooth-tang","status":"publish","type":"species","link":"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/twospot-bristletooth-tang\/","title":{"rendered":"Twospot bristletooth tang"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twospot bristletooth tangs have crescent-shaped tails, and like other surgeonfish, they possess a sharp, retractable spine near the base of the tail, which they use for defense. These tangs have bristle-like teeth designed for scraping algae off rocks and sand, keeping reefs clean. They spend most of their time picking at surfaces for food, helping to control algae growth in their habitat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15838,"template":"","class_list":["post-15837","species","type-species","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTwospot bristletooth tang | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mote.org\/animal-encyclopedia\/twospot-bristletooth-tang\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twospot bristletooth tang | Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Twospot bristletooth tangs have crescent-shaped tails, and like other surgeonfish, they possess a sharp, retractable spine near the base of the tail, which they use for defense. 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