The melon butterflyfish (''Chaetodon trifasciatus'') or the Indian redfin 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 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

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

from East Africa to Western Java. This is one species of a closely related group which includes the

blacktail butterflyfish The blacktail butterflyfish (''Chaetodon austriacus''), also known as black-tailed butterflyfish or exquisite butterflyfish, is a species marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is native to the western ...

(''C. austriacus'') of 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

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 ...

and the

oval butterflyfish The oval butterflyfish (''Chaetodon lunulatus''), red-finned butterflyfish or redfin butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the Pacific Ocean from Eastern Indon ...

(''C. lunulatus'') which is found in the western Pacific, from eastern coasts of the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n islands to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Melon butterflyfish should not be confused with

chevron butterflyfish The chevron butterflyfish (''Chaetodon trifascialis''), also known as chevroned butterflyfish, triangulate butterflyfish or V-lined butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It ...

(''C. trifascialis''), three-striped butterflyfish (''C. tricinctus''), or

three-banded butterflyfish The three-banded butterflyfish (''Chaetodon robustus'') is a species of fish in the family Chaetodontidae. It inhabits the eastern-central Atlantic Ocean, in warm tropical waters from Mauritania down to Cape Verde and the Gulf of Guinea Th ...

(''C. robustus'').

Description and characteristics

The oval butterflyfish and the blacktail butterflyfish resemble ''C. trifasciatus'' in coloration. The former has a less conspicuous back patch 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 a mainly dark

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 ...

, while the latter has black

caudal Caudal may refer to: Anatomy * Caudal (anatomical term) (from Latin ''cauda''; tail), used to describe how close something is to the trailing end of an organism * Caudal artery, the portion of the dorsal aorta of a vertebrate that passes into the ...

and anal fins. Melon, black-tailed and oval butterflyfishes and probably also the somewhat aberrant Arabian butterflyfish ('' C. melapterus'') 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 ...

''Corallochaetodon'', of which ''C. trifasciatus'' 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 are probably quite close to the subgenus called ''"Citharoedus"'' (that name is a junior homonym of a

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

genus), which contains for example the

scrawled butterflyfish The scrawled butterflyfish (''Chaetodon meyeri''), also known as Meyer's butterflyfish or the maypole butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the Indian and P ...

(''C. meyeri''). Like that group, they might be separated in ''Megaprotodon'' if the

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 ...

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.

Habitat and range

The melon butterflyfish is found in the

from East Africa to Western Java, at depths between 2 and 20 m, in

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 ...

-rich

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 ...

s and semi-protected seaward

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. Small

juvenile Juvenile may refer to: *Juvenile status, or minor (law), prior to adulthood *Juvenile (organism) *Juvenile (rapper) (born 1975), American rapper * ''Juvenile'' (2000 film), Japanese film * ''Juvenile'' (2017 film) *Juvenile (greyhounds), a greyho ...

s are secretive and hide in

Ecology and behaviour

Growing to a maximum of 15 cm long, the

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a form of Dyad (sociology), dyadic Intimate relationship, relationship in which an individual has only one Significant other, partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time (Monogamy#Serial monogamy, ...

adults swim in pairs and may be

territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

and aggressive to other ''

''. Melon butterflyfish feed exclusively on

coral polyp 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 ...

s, particularly of '' Pocillopora''. They are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1661580

melon butterflyfish The melon butterflyfish (''Chaetodon trifasciatus'') or the Indian redfin butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the Indian Ocean from East Africa to Western ...

Fish of Madagascar Fish of the Indian Ocean