''Chaetodon argentatus'', the Asian butterflyfish, three band butterflyfish or black pearlscaled 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 hor ...

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 Atlant ...

belonging to the

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

Chaetodontidae. It is native to the western Pacific Ocean.

Description

''Chaetodon argentatus'' has a silver coloured body which is marked by a mesh of diagonal black lines creating a net like pattern. There are also two black saddle marks with a black vertical band at the rear of the body running from the soft rayed part of 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 ...

to the equivalent part of the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

. There are 13-14 spines and 21-22 soft rays in the dorsal fin while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 15-16 soft rays. This species attains a maximum

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

of .

Distribution

''Chaetodon argentatus'' is found in the Western Pacific where it is distributed from the

Ryukyu The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

and

Izu Islands The are a group of volcanic islands stretching south and east from the Izu Peninsula of Honshū, Japan. Administratively, they form two towns and six villages; all part of Tokyo Prefecture. The largest is Izu Ōshima, usually called simply Ō ...

of southern Japan south to the northern Philippines and east to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Habitat and biology

''Chaetodon argentatus'' can be found over the outer slopes of coral or rocky reefs and drop-offs. Off southern Japan it lives over rocky areas, but in the more southerly parts of its distribution it has an association with coral reefs. They are typically observed in pairs or small schools. It is an oviparous species which forms pairs to breed. These fish are omnivorous and feed on filamentous algae,

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group ...

, worms,

sponges Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through ...

bivalves Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

, soft and stony corals, hydroids and other invertebrates.

Taxonomy

''Chaetodon argentatus'' was first formally described in 1911 by the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

ichthyologists Hugh McCormick Smith (1865-1941) and Lewis Radcliffe (1880-1950) with the type locality given as Agojo Point on the Catanduanes Islands off southern

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

Island in the Philippines. It has hybridised in the wild, off southern Japan, with the crosshatch butterflyfish (''Chaetodon xanthurus'').

Utilisation

''Chaetodon argentatus'' is uncommon in the aquarium trade outside Japan, although relatively easy to maintain in an aquarium its comparatively muted colouration means it is not as popular as its congeners.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1921607 argentatus Fish described in 1911