The bluelashed butterflyfish (''Chaetodon bennetti''), also known as the eclipse butterflyfish, archer butterflyfish or Bennett's butterflyfish, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

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 hor ...

, 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 Atla ...

belonging to the family Chaetodontidae, It is found in the

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 ...

Description

The bluelashed butterflyfish has a body which is yellow with a black patch surrounded by a blue circle below the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

and two curved blue lines above the belly. Its vertical black eyestripe is flanked by two blue lines. The dorsal fin contains 13-14 spines and 15-17 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 14-16 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of .

Distribution

The bluelashed butterflyfish has a wide Indo-Pacific range. In the eastern Indian Ocean they are found along the eastern coast of Africa from Somalia to South Africa and across the Indian Ocean as far north as India and Sri Lanka and into the Pacific Ocean where they extend as far north as Kashiwa-jima in southern Japan, south to Lord Howe Island and east to Mangarava in

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

. In Australia this species occurs on the Indian Ocean territories of the

Cocos (Keeling) Islands ) , anthem = "''Advance Australia Fair''" , song_type = , song = , image_map = Australia on the globe (Cocos (Keeling) Islands special) (Southeast Asia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , map_caption = ...

and

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

. In

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

it is found at the

Rowley Shoals The Rowley Shoals is a group of three atoll-like coral reefs south of the Timor Sea, about west of Broome on the northwestern Australian coast, centered on , on the edge of one of the widest continental shelves in the world. Each atoll cover ...

and Scott Reef. They are also found at the Ashmore Reef in the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea ( id, Laut Timor, pt, Mar de Timor, tet, Tasi Mane or ) is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, and to the south by Australia. The sea contains a number of reefs, ...

, the northern

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

south to

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

Habitat and biology

The bluelashed butterflyfish is found in seaward and

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'') a ...

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 processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

s in areas with rich

coral 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 ...

growth. Juveniles may be found in shallow ''

Acropora ''Acropora'' is a genus of small polyp stony coral in the phylum Cnidaria. Some of its species are known as table coral, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral. Over 149 species are described. ''Acropora'' species are some of the major reef corals r ...

'' thickets. Adults occur in pairs. This species feeds largely on coral polyps.

Systematics

The bluelashed butterflyfish was first formally described in 1831 by the French

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832). The specific name honours the English naturalist Edward Turner Bennett (1797-1836) who had the type specimen of this species shown to Cuvier. Like the other butterflyfishes with angular yellow bodies with black eyestripes and, except for this species which is regarded as the most basal of them, a single differently-colored patch, it belongs in the

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 between t ...

''Tetrachaetodon''. Among this group it seems to be the most basal living species. If ''

Chaetodon ''Chaetodon'' is a tropical fish genus in the 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, though most migh ...

'' is split up, this subgenus would be placed in ''Megaprotodon''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:butterflyfish, bluelashed bluelashed butterflyfish Fish of Palau bluelashed butterflyfish bluelashed butterflyfish