''Chaetodontoplus caeruleopunctatus'', the bluespotted angelfish, is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

, a marine angelfish belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Pomacanthidae Marine angelfish are perciform fish of the family Pomacanthidae. They are found on shallow reefs in the tropical Atlantic, Indian, and mostly western Pacific Oceans. The family contains seven genera and about 86 species. They should not be co ...

. It is from the Western-Pacific Ocean.

Description

''Chaetodontoplus caeruleopunctatus'' has a pale orange-brown head and anterior part of the body, while the remainder of the body is dusky brown to bluish-black marked with dense blue spots. The

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage The fus ...

and

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

s are dark brown with blue margins, while the

caudal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported only ...

is vivid yellow. The juveniles are dark brown, pearl black with a yellow stripe on the forward part of the back and another on the head and around the dorsal fin, their tail is yellow and white. The dorsal fin contains 13 spines and 17 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 17 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of .

Distribution

''Chaetodontoplus caeruleopunctatus'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Philippines where it is rarely recorded in the wild.

Habitat and biology

''Chaetodontoplus caeruleopunctatus'' is found at depths between . It prefers rock areas with a rich growth of sponges and algae. Its diet is composed of

sponges Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and ar ...

and

tunicates Tunicates are marine invertebrates belonging to the subphylum Tunicata ( ). This grouping is part of the Chordata, a phylum which includes all animals with dorsal nerve cords and notochords (including vertebrates). The subphylum was at one time ...

. Like all other angelfish it is a

protogynous hermaphrodite Sequential hermaphroditism (called dichogamy in botany) is one of the two types of hermaphroditism, the other type being simultaneous hermaphroditism. It occurs when the organism's sex changes at some point in its life. A sequential hermaphrodite ...

, with all individuals being female initially and the dominant ones changing to males.

Systematics

''Chaetodontoplus caeruleopunctatus'' was first formally described in 1976 by the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

ichthyologists Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Fujio Yasuda and Yoshiaki Tominaga with the type locality given as the Philippines. The position of this species is indeterminate and its closest relatives have not yet been resolved. It was proposed that it was a hybrid but the consistency of appearance of specimens collected and their numbers strongly suggest it is a valid species.

Utlisation

''Chaetodontoplus caeruleopunctatus'' despite its apparent rarity in the wild is quite frequently found in the aquarium trade and has been bred in captivity.

References

* * Pete education:: https://web.archive.org/web/20120310055708/http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=16+1879&aid=2057 {{Taxonbar, from=Q2208824 caeruleopunctatus Fish described in 1976