''Heniochus varius'', the horned bannerfish or humphead bannerfish, 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 Atla ...

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, native from the central Indo-Pacific area.

Description

The horned bannerfish is a small-sized fish that can reach a maximum length of . It has the typical deep-bodied and highly compressed body, typical of butterflyfishes. The horned bannerfish is told apart from its congeners by the adults having a pair of obvious horns on the forehead, just above the eyes and a prominent bump on the forehead. The predominant colour on the body is brown to blackish broken by a thin white band behind the head and a second running from the spiny 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 c ...

to the caudal peduncle. The two white stripes create a triangle of the base colour on the body. The dorsal fin has 11 spines and 22-25 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 17-18 soft rays.

Distribution and habitat

The horned bannerfish is widespread throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the central Indo-Pacific from Indonesia to Polynesia and from south Japan to New-Caledonia. It inhabits areas rich in coral in shallow lagoons and external reef slopes from the surface to a depth of 30 meters.

Biology

The horned bannerfish is a solitary fish but it can live in pairs or even in small groups.Rudie Kuiter, “Chaetodontidae & Microcanthidae”, Aquatic Photographics, 2004, Its diet is varied and consists of coral polyps and various benthic invertebrates.

Taxonomy

''Heniochus varius'' was first formally described as ''Taurichthys varius'' in 1829 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 it ...

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) with the type locality given as Ambon Island in Indonesia.

Conservation status

In some geographic areas, the horned bannerfish is occasionally harvested for the aquarium trade, however the species does not currently appear threatened is listed as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

(LC) by the IUCN.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1021923 varius Fish described in 1829 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier