Caesio teres

Caesio teres, the yellow and blueback fusilier, beautiful fusilier, blue and gold fusilier or yellow-tail fusilier, is a pelagic marine fish belonging to the family Caesionidae.

Caesio teres
A school of Caesio teres in Fiji
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Actinopterygii
Order:
Perciformes
Family:
Caesionidae
Subfamily:
Caesioninae
Genus:
Caesio
Species:
C. teres
Binomial name
Caesio teres
(Seale, 1906)[1]

Description

This fusilier grows up to 40 cm (16 in).[2] Its body is fusiform or spindle-shaped and its caudal fin is forked. The mouth is small and terminal. The protusible mouth can be extended forward to swallow food.

The body coloration is blue and yellow on the back. When this fusilier is young, the yellow area starts from the neck, or anterior part of the dorsal fin, to the low part of the caudal peduncle, drawing a diagonal. For older fish, the yellow area is reduced to the caudal fin and the caudal peduncle.[3]

Distribution and habitat

It is widely distributed throughout the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf excluded, to the western Pacific Ocean.[2] It lives in mid-water in deep lagoons and close to external reefs in depths from the surface to 50 m (160 ft).[2]

Feeding

Caesio teres feeds on zooplankton, so it is a planktivore.[4]

Behaviour
Closer view of an individual

The yellow and blueback fusilier is diurnal, and lives in groups and forms schools with other caesionids such as Caesio xanthonota. Often, confusion between these two species occurs; Caesio xanthonota has a constant yellow zone which does not change with age as the yellow and blueback fusilier does. This yellow zone starts from the "forehead" between the eyes and finishes to the caudal fin, dorsal fin included.

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References
  1. Seale, 1906 : Fishes of the South Pacific. Occasional Papers of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum of Polynesian Ethnology and Natural History, vol. 4 n. 1, p. 1-89.
  2. "Caesio teres Yellow and Blueback Fusilier". Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  3. Lieske & Myers, Coral reef fishes, Princeton University Press, 2009, ISBN 9780691089959
  4. "Caesio teres Seale, 1906 Yellow and blueback fusilier". FishBase. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
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