''Chaetodon hoefleri'', the four-banded butterflyfish, 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

butterflyfish The butterflyfish are a group of conspicuous tropical ocean, marine fish of the family Chaetodontidae; the bannerfish and coralfish are also included in this group. The approximately 129 species in 12 genera are found mostly on the reefs of the ...

from 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 ...

Chaetodontidae. It is native to the tropical eastern

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and has been recorded in the Mediterranean.

Description

''Chaetodon hoefleri'' has a rounded body shape with a short snout and rounded median fins. The head and body are largely yellowish in colour with copper tints. The body is marked with four vertical bars, the first bar is blackish and starts to the front of the first

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

spine runs across the eye to the lower part of the back of the head. The second is dark brown in colour and starts between the third to fifth dorsal fin spines across the rear angle of the bill cover and base of the

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s to the

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

s. The third bar is darker brown and runs from the last dorsal fin spines down towards the base of the anal fin at a slightly oblique angle, with an obvious black spot in its uppermost part. The fourth bar is darker than the others and could be described as blackish runs over the caudal peduncle. A black stripe runs between the eyes to the end of the short snout. The remainder of the upper part of head and the snout is orange. Every scale on the body has an orange horizontal stripe. The median fin spines and rays and the pelvic fin rays are yellowish to orange in colour. The soft rayed parts of the dorsal and anal fins usually have a white stripe on the inside of this. The pectoral fins are hyaline as is 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 ...

but this an orange crescent shaped crossbar in its centre. The dorsal fin contains 11 spines and 21-24 soft rays while the

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 ...

has 3 spines and 16-17 soft rays. This species attains a maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of , although is more common.

Distribution

''Chaetodon hoefleri'' occurs in the tropical eastern Atlantic Ocean from Cap Blanc and Levrier Bay in Mauritania) south as far as the mouth of the Congo. It is also occurs around the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. There have been a number of records in the western

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

Habitat and biology

''Chaetodon hoefleri'' is a coastal species which has a preference for hard or rocky substrates. However, it has also been caught by trawlers over sand or mud substrates. It is a solitary fish, although it is often encountered in pairs as adults, although juveniles may be more gregarious when. They feed on

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

invertebrates. This is an

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...

species which forms pairs when breeding. It is found at depths of .

Taxonomy and etymology

''Chaetodon hoefleri'' was first formally described in 1881 by the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

ichthyologist 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 ...

Franz Steindachner (1834-1913) with its type locality given as

Gorée (; "Gorée Island"; ) is one of the 19 (i.e. districts) of the city of Dakar, Senegal. It is an island located at sea from the main harbour of Dakar (), famous as a destination for people interested in the Atlantic slave trade. Its populatio ...

in Senegal. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honours the Steindachner's “dear friend” W. Höfler, who provided the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

and who was supplied him with fish specimens from Africa.

Utilisation

''Chaetodon hoefleri'' is rare in the

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

trade.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1054462 four-banded butterflyfish Fish of the East Atlantic Marine fish of West Africa four-banded butterflyfish