The blue-cheeked butterflyfish (''Chaetodon semilarvatus'') 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 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 found in the northwestern Indian Ocean.

Description

The bluecheek butterflyfish has a bright yellow body marked with thin vertical red lines. There a greyish patch behind the eyes, whereas most related species have an eye bar. The dorsal, anal,

pelvic The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton). The ...

and

caudal 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 ...

s are yellow. It is a relatively large species of butterflyfish which can attain 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 , although is more typical.

Distribution

The bluecheek butterflyfish is found in the northwestern Indian Ocean where it occurs in 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''; T ...

and the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...

, as Far East as the coast of Oman.

Habitat and biology

The bluecheek butterflyfish is one of the few fish species to have long-term mates. In the wild, the fish eats hard corals as well as benthic invertebrates. This is a common species which is found in areas with rich coral growth. They are frequently recorded in pairs or in small shoals. They have been known to occasionally hover in a stationary position for long periods beneath ledges of plate corals of the genus ''

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 ...

''. It is oviparous species which forms pairs when spawning. This is normally during the day and the fishes emerge and are active at night. They are found at depths between .

Systematics

The bluecheek butterflyfish was first formally described in 1831 by the French anatomist Georges Cuvier with the type locality given as the Red Sea at

Massawa Massawa ( ; ti, ምጽዋዕ, məṣṣəwaʿ; gez, ምጽዋ; ar, مصوع; it, Massaua; pt, Maçuá) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak ...

in Eritrea and Al-Luhayya, Yemen. It belongs to the large

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 ...

''Rabdophorus'' which might warrant recognition as a distinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

. In this group, it seems closest to a group containing the

blackback butterflyfish The black-backed butterflyfish or blackback butterflyfish (''Chaetodon melannotus'') is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is widespread through the Indo-Pacific area from the Red Sea and East Africa to Samoa, to southern Jap ...

(''C. melannotus''), the

spot-naped butterflyfish The Spot-naped Butterflyfish (''Chaetodon oxycephalus''), also known as the pig-face butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish. a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the Indo- West Pacific region from ...

(''C. oxycephalus''), or the peculiar

black-wedged butterflyfish ''Chaetodon falcula'', the blackwedged butterflyfish or falcula butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the Indian Ocean. Description ''Chaetodon falcula'' has ...

(''C. falcula'') and

Pacific double-saddle butterflyfish ''Chaetodon ulietensis'', the Pacific double-saddle butterflyfish or false falcula butterflyfish, is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It flourishes in coral-rich environments in the central Indo-Pacific region. Their range ext ...

or "false falcula", (''C. ulietensis''). Though the present species does not share their white body with black on the back and caudal peduncle and even lacks the typical eyestripe of ''Chaetodon'', it has the same tell-tale blue vertical lines as these species.

Footnotes

References

* (2007): Molecular phylogenetics of the butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae): Taxonomy and biogeography of a global coral reef fish family. '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 45(1): 50–68. (HTML abstract) * (2008)
''Chaetodon semilarvatus''
Version of 2008-JUL-24. Retrieved 2008-SEP-01. * (2007): Molecular phylogeny of ''Chaetodon'' (Teleostei: Chaetodontidae) in the Indo-West Pacific: evolution in geminate species pairs and species groups. ''Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement'' 14: 77–86
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External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1281124 Chaetodon Fish described in 1831 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier