The peppered butterflyfish (''Chaetodon guttatissimus'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 found in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

Description

The peppered butterflyfish is silvery white in colour marked with irregular vertical rows of dark spots or speckles on the flanks, these reorient to a more horizontal plane on the lower flanks. There is a thin, vertical dark bar running through the eye> The rear of the

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 ...

has an orange bar and this reaches the upper part of the caudal peduncle. 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 ...

has a black submarginal band while the dorsal fin has a yellow margin. The dorsal fin contains 12-13 spines and 22-24 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 16-18 soft rays. This fish 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 .

Distribution

The peppered butterflyfish is found in the Indian Ocean where its range extends from the East African coast where it ranges from Somalia to South Africa and across the Indian Ocean as far east as

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

in Indonesia and the Australian territories of

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an States and territories of Australia#External territories, Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about south o ...

and the

Cocos (Keeling) Islands The Cocos (Keeling) Islands (), officially the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands (; ), are an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, comprising a small archipelago approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka and rel ...

. It appears to avoid the mainland coasts of Southern Asia but can be found in the Maldives, off Sri Lanka and the Indian islands of the Andamans and the Nicobars and other islands in the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

Habitat and biology

The peppered butterflyfish is found in coral rich areas in lagoons and seaward reef slopes, where it lives either as solitary individuals or in pairs. It may be encountered in small schools. It feeds on invertebrates such as

polychaetes Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are m ...

as well as algae. However, a large part of its diet is coral polyps and it may be an obligate coral eater. It is an oviparous species which breeds in pairs.

Taxonomy

The peppered butterflyfish was first formally described in by the 1833 by the English

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Edward Turner Bennett (1797-1836) with the type locality given as Sri Lanka. This is one of the members of the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

''Exornator''. It is part of a close-knit group which also includes the pebbled butterflyfish (''C. multicinctus''), the spot-banded butterflyfish (''C. punctatofasciatus'') and the sunset butterflyfish ('' C. pelewensis''). It is suspected that these four are able to produce fertile

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

s. If the genus ''

Chaetodon ''Chaetodon'' is a tropical fish genus in the family (biology), family Chaetodontidae. Like their relatives, they are known as "butterflyfish". This genus is by far the largest among the Chaetodontidae, with about 90 living species included here, ...

'' is split up, ''Exornator'' might become a subgenus of ''Lepidochaetodon''. It is known to hybridise with the spot-banded butterflyfish.

Utilisation and threats

The peppered butterflyfish is difficult to keep in captivity and 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. As a species which is likely to be an obligate corallivore it needs live coral to feed on and it would be expected to suffer population declines following coral die offs or bleaching events. However, an event of this kind in the Seychelles did not lead to an observed decrease in the population of peppered butterflyfish.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:butterflyfish, peppered peppered butterflyfish Fish of the Indian Ocean peppered butterflyfish