The sunburst butterflyfish (''Chaetodon kleinii''), also known as the black-lipped butterflyfish, "blacklip butterflyfish" or Klein's butterflyfish, is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

, a

butterflyfish The butterflyfish are a group of conspicuous tropical 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 Atlan ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Chaetodontidae. This is an

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

species of reef habitats.

Description

The body of this fish is yellowish brown with 1-2 broad lighter

vertical Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...

bars, one running from near the origin of the

dorsal spine 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 * Dorsa ...

to the belly, and sometimes another running from the middle of the back to the center of the body. A black bar runs vertically across the eye, and the part before this is whitish, with a black snout. The color varies somewhat across the range; western specimens usually have one

beige Beige is variously described as a pale sandy fawn color, a grayish tan, a light-grayish yellowish brown, or a pale to grayish yellow. It takes its name from French, where the word originally meant natural wool that has been neither bleached nor ...

bar, while eastern ones have two white bars. There may be numerous dotted horizontal stripes on the sides, or another dark band between the two light ones in eastern specimens.

Distribution

It is a native of the

region, from the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

and

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the histori ...

to the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, north to southern Japan, south to Australia and New Caledonia. It is also found in Galapagos Islands in the Eastern

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Habitat and biology

The sunburst butterflyfish is found at depths of 4–61 meters, usually in deeper

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons' ...

s and channels and seaward

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic processes—deposition (geology), deposition of ...

s, swimming singly, or (particularly during breeding) in pairs. These fish are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), a ...

. They are

omnivore An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nut ...

s, feeding mainly on soft

coral polyp Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

s (especially ''

Litophyton viridis ''Litophyton'' is a genus of soft corals in the family Nephtheidae. Species The World Register of Marine Species includes the following species in the genus: *'' Litophyton acuticonicum'' (Verseveldt, 1974) *'' Litophyton amentaceum'' (Studer, ...

'' and ''

Sarcophyton tracheliophorum ''Sarcophyton'' is the scientific name of several genera of organisms and may refer to: * ''Sarcophyton'' (plant), a genus of plants in the family Orchidaceae * ''Sarcophyton'' (coral), a genus of corals in the family Alcyoniidae {{Genus ...

''),

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) are any of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic, eukaryotic organisms. The name is an informal term for a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from ...

and

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

. In the aquarium, ''Chaetodon kleinii'' will eat meaty food such as

mysis ''Mysis'' is a genus of mysid crustaceans in the family Mysidae, distributed mainly in the coastal zone of the Arctic and high boreal seas. Several species also inhabit northern freshwater lakes and the brackish Caspian Sea. Fifteen species are ...

. Its coral-eating habits can become a nuisance, but on the other hand they are fond of ''

Aiptasia ''Aiptasia'' is a genus of a symbiotic cnidarian belonging to the class Anthozoa (sea anemones, corals). ''Aiptasia'' is a widely distributed genus of temperate and tropical sea anemones of benthic lifestyle typically found living on mangrove ...

'', small sea anemones that often become a

pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

in seawater aquaria.

Taxonomy and etymology

The sunburst butterflyfish was first formally described in 1790 by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

naturalist and

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723–1799) with the

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

given as the East Indies (''Ostindien''). The specific name honours the German jurist, historian, botanist, zoologist and mathematician

Jacob Theodor Klein Jacob Theodor Klein (nickname ''Plinius Gedanensium''; 15 August 1685 – 27 February 1759) was a German jurist, historian, botanist, zoologist, mathematician and diplomat in service of Polish King August II the Strong. Life Klein was born on 15 ...

(1685-1759) who illustrated this species in volume 4 of his 5 volume history of fishes, which drew Bloch's attention. Under its junior synonym ''C. corallicola'' was placed in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

subgenus In biology, a subgenus (plural: 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 betw ...

''Tifia'', but this cannot be separated from the earlier-described ''Lepidochaetodon'' (sometimes considered a separate

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

). It appears to be closer to the

Tahiti butterflyfish ''Chaetodon trichrous'' (Tahiti butterflyfish) is a species of fish in the family Chaetodontidae. Taxonomy This species is included in the subgenus ''Lepidochaetodon''. In 1984, André and Roland Bauchot Maugé proposed to include this specie ...

('' C. trichrous'') than to the

teardrop butterflyfish The teardrop butterflyfish (''Chaetodon unimaculatus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the ( family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the Indo-Pacific region. Description The teardrop butterflyfish has a whi ...

(''C. unimaculatus'').

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q912433 Chaetodon Fish of the Red Sea Fish of Hawaii Fish described in 1790