__NOTOC__ The red-tailed butterflyfish (''Chaetodon collare''), also known as the brown butterflyfish, Pakistani butterflyfish or redtail 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 can be found in

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 of the Indo-west Pacific region: from the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

and

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

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 ...

. It usually swims at depths of between 3 and 15 m. It can grow to 18 cm (over 7 in) in length. The red-tailed butterflyfish is brown to black, with lighter scales giving it a spotted appearance. It has a prominent, vertical white streak behind the eyes, a dark stripe over the eyes, and another, smaller white stripe in front of the eyes. The base of the tail is bright red, followed by a black stripe. The tip of the tail is diffuse white. In the wild, its diet consists of

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. In captivity, it is a carnivore, taking fish meat and shrimp.

Systematics

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, its relationships are doubtful; it seems related to the " raccoon-masked" group including the

black butterflyfish The Black Butterflyfish (''Chaetodon flavirostris''), also known as the dusky butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finnedfish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is native to the Pacific Ocean. Description The black ...

(''C. flavirostris''),

diagonal butterflyfish The diagonal butterflyfish (''Chaetodon fasciatus''), also known as the Red Sea raccoon butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the Red Sea and western Indian ...

(''C. fasciatus''),

Philippine butterflyfish The Philippine butterflyfish (''Chaetodon adiergastos''), the Bantayan butterflyfish or panda butterflyfish,, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the western Pacific, fro ...

(''C. adiergastos'') and the

raccoon butterflyfish The raccoon butterflyfish (''Chaetodon lunula''), also known as the crescent-masked butterflyfish, lunule butterflyfish, halfmoon butterflyfish, moon butterflyfish, raccoon butterfly, raccoon, raccoon coralfish, and redstriped butterflyfish, is ...

(''C. lunula''). Its color and pattern is entirely different from these, but it shares the robust habitus and bold habits. The

mailed butterflyfish The mailed butterflyfish (''Chaetodon reticulatus''), also known as the reticulated butterflyfish or black butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae, This species is found on re ...

(''C. reticulatus'') is a near-match of ''C. collare'' in appearance, save for a less brown hue and light blue instead of red in its black-based tail. These two are widely

sympatric In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...

in the western Pacific. But

DNA sequence DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

and

osteology Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, funct ...

data overwhelmingly agree that ''C. reticulatus'' belongs to the subgenus called ''"Citharoedus"'' (a name

preoccupied The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linn ...

by 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). This contains fish like 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''), similar in shape and size but with a "finger-painted" pattern of a few prominent and uneven lines on light silvery background. If ''Rabdophorus'' were to be considered a distinct genus, ''"Citharoedus"'' would not be included in it but placed with the subgenera ''Lepidochaetodon'' or ''Megaprotodon''. Thus, the red-tailed and mailed butterflyfishes probably represent a case of

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...

and perhaps

mimicry In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry f ...

. What selection forces were responsible for the striking similarity between two rather unrelated ''Chaetodon'' is not known. The highly anomalous

12S rRNA Mitochondrially encoded 12S ribosomal RNA (often abbreviated as 12S or 12S rRNA), also known as Mitochondrial-derived peptide MOTS-c or Mitochondrial open reading frame of the 12S rRNA-c is the SSU rRNA of the mitochondrial ribosome. In humans, ...

mtDNA sequence found in this species in one 2007 study seems to be due to a laboratory error; in another study a 12S rRNA sequence agreeing with the general pattern of mtDNA evolution in ''Rabdophorus'' was found.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q741664 red-tailed butterflyfish Fish of Pakistan Marine fauna of South Asia Marine fish of Southeast Asia red-tailed butterflyfish