''Chaetodon rainfordi'', Rainfords's butterflyfish, also known as the gold-barred butterflyfish or the Northern 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 ...

, 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 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 found in the southwestern Pacific Ocean where it is associated with coral reefs.

Description

''Chaetodon rainfordi'' may be distinguished by its colour compared to related species of fish. The basic colour of yellow with an orange bar, with dark edges, which runs through the eye and another thinner orange bar which goes through the base of the

pectoral 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 ...

. There are then two blue-grey bands edged with yellow-orange on the body. There is normally a black spot on the caudal peduncle. The gold bands on the body often found on each side of the wider diffuse dark bars. The

dorsal 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 * Dorsal co ...

anal Anal may refer to: Related to the anus *Related to the anus of animals: ** Anal fin, in fish anatomy ** Anal vein, in insect anatomy ** Anal scale, in reptile anatomy *Related to the human anus: ** Anal sex, a type of sexual activity involvin ...

and pectoral fins are yellow. The dorsal fin contains 10-11 spines and 20-22 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 17-19 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 rainfordi'' is found in the south western Pacific Ocean. It is found off southern Papua New Guinea, along the

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, ...

off

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 the Solitary Islands and the Surgeons Reef off

Red Rock, New South Wales Red Rock is a small hamlet in the northern beaches of the Coffs Harbour coast beside the banks of the Corindi River on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and is surrounded by National Parks. It is in the City of Coffs Harbour loc ...

. It is also found off

Lord Howe Island Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...

in the

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

Habitat and biology

''Chaetodon rainfordi'' lives among coastal and offshore reefs, at depths between , where there is a sparse growth of corals. The juveniles live among branching corals. It is an obligate corallivore, feeding only on coral

polyps A polyp in zoology is one of two forms found in the phylum Cnidaria, the other being the medusa. Polyps are roughly cylindrical in shape and elongated at the axis of the vase-shaped body. In solitary polyps, the aboral (opposite to oral) end is ...

. It is an oviparous species which forms pairs for breeding.

Systematics

''Chaetodon rainfordi'' was first formally described in 1923 by the Australian

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, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Allan Riverstone McCulloch (1885-1925) with the type locality given as Holbourne Island, off Port Denison, Queensland. The specific name honours the amateur naturalist and viticulturist with the Queensland Agricultural Department, Edward Henry Rainford who provided specimens of fish for the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...

, including type of this species. This species is a close relative of the golden butterflyfish (''C. aureofasciatus'') and the

eightband butterflyfish The eight-banded Butterflyfish (''Chaetodon octofasciatus''), also known as the eightband butterflyfish or eight-striped butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found i ...

(''C. octofasciatus''). These species, together with the three-striped Butterflyfish (''C. tricinctus''), are high-bodied species which make up 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 ...

''Discochaetodon'', of which ''C. octofasciatus'' is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

. They appear to be close relatives of the subgenus ''Tetrachaetodon'' which includes for example the

mirror butterflyfish The mirror butterflyfish or oval-spot butterflyfish (''Chaetodon speculum'') is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is found in the Indo-Pacific region from Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a ...

(''C. speculum'') and together with these would probably go in ''Megaprotodon'' 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.

Utilisation and threats

''Chaetodon rainfordi'' is rarely found in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''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. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade but it is difficult to keep in the aquarium due to its specialised diet. This species relies on coral for food and there have been severe depletion of numbers where there has been climate-induced coral die offs. Its inshore habitat is also being lost where sedimentation caused by anthropogenic activities on land. In some places, it has become locally extinct. The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

classifies this species as

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q664227 rainfordi