The peppered butterflyfish (''Chaetodon guttatissimus'') 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 ...

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 ...

from 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 ...

Description

The peppered butterflyfish is silvery white in colour marked with irregular vertical rows of dark spots or speckles on the flanks, the se reorient to a more horizontal plane on the lower flanks. There is a thin, vertical dark bar running through the eye> The rear 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 ...

has an orange bar and this reaches the upper part of the caudal peduncle. The

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 ...

has a black submarginal band while the dorsal fin has a yellow margin. The dorsal fin contains 12-13 spines and 22-24 soft rays while 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 ...

has 3 spines and 16-18 soft rays. This fish 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

The peppered butterflyfish is found in the Indian Ocean where its range extends from the East African coast where it ranges from Somalia to South Africa and across the Indian Ocean as far east as

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

in Indonesia and the Australian territories of

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

and the

Cocos (Keeling) Islands ) , anthem = "''Advance Australia Fair''" , song_type = , song = , image_map = Australia on the globe (Cocos (Keeling) Islands special) (Southeast Asia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , map_caption = ...

. It appears to avoid the mainland coasts of Southern Asia but can be found in the Maldives, off Sri Lanka and the Indian islands of the

Andamans The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between the ...

and the

Nicobars The Nicobar Islands are an archipelago, archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of ...

and other islands in the

Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated from ...

Habitat and biology

The peppered butterflyfish is found in coral rich areas in lagoons and seaward reef slopes, where it lives either as solitary individuals or in pairs. It may be encountered in small schools. It feeds on invertebrates such as

polychaetes Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are mad ...

as well as algae. However, a large part of its diet is coral polyps and it may be an obligate coral eater. It is an oviparous species which breeds in pairs.

Taxonomy

The peppered butterflyfish was first formally described in by the 1833 by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Edward Turner Bennett (1797-1836) with the type locality given as Sri Lanka. This is one of the members of 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 ...

''Exornator''. It is part of a close-knit group which also includes the pebbled butterflyfish (''C. multicinctus''), the spot-banded butterflyfish (''C. punctatofasciatus'') and the sunset butterflyfish ('' C. pelewensis''). It is suspected that these four are able to produce fertile

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

s. If the genus ''

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, ''Exornator'' might become a subgenus of ''Lepidochaetodon''. It is known to hybridise with the spot-banded butterflyfish.

Utilisation and threats

The peppered butterflyfish is difficult to keep in captivity and is rare 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. As a species which is likely to be an obligate corallivore it needs live coral to feed on and it would be expected to suffer population declines following coral die offs or bleaching events. However, an event of this kind in the Seychelles did not lead to an observed decrease in the population of peppered butterflyfish.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:butterflyfish, peppered peppered butterflyfish Fish of the Indian Ocean peppered butterflyfish