Latticed butterflyfish
The Latticed Butterflyfish (Chaetodon rafflesii) is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is found in the Indo-Pacific region from Sri Lanka to the Tuamotu Islands, north to southern Japan, south to the Great Barrier Reef, and from Palau (Belau) to the eastern Caroline Islands in Micronesia.[2]
Latticed Butterflyfish | |
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Scientific classification | |
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Genus: | Chaetodon (but see text) |
Subgenus: | Rabdophorus |
Species: | C. rafflesii |
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Chaetodon rafflesii Anonymous E. T. Bennett, 1830 | |
It grows to a maximum of 18 cm (7.1 in) long,[3] but the most common length is 15 cm (5.9 in). The body color is yellow with a cross-hatched pattern of darker lines on the sides; it has a vertical black eyestripe and a vertical black line in the caudal fin. The peculiarly-patterned C. rafflesii belongs to the large subgenus Rabdophorus which might warrant recognition as a distinct genus. In this group, it seems to represent a rather unusual lineage, with perhaps just the White-faced Butterflyfish (C. mesoleucos) being less distantly related.[2][4][5]
The Latticed Butterflyfish is an uncommon species found in areas of rich coral growth of lagoons and protected reef flats and seaward reefs from 1–20 m depth. It feeds on sea anemones, polychaetes, and octocorallian and scleractinian coral polyps.[2]
References
- Myers, R. & Pratchett, M. 2010. Chaetodon rafflesii. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 10 September 2013.
- FishBase (2008): Chaetodon rafflesii Archived 2008-05-10 at the Wayback Machine. Version of 2008-JUL-24. Retrieved 2008-SEP-01.
- Dianne J. Bray. "Lattice Butterflyfish, Chaetodon rafflesii Bennett 1830". Fishes of Australia. Archived from the original on 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- Fessler, Jennifer L. & Westneat, Mark W. (2007): Molecular phylogenetics of the butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae): Taxonomy and biogeography of a global coral reef fish family. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 45(1): 50–68. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.018 (HTML abstract)
- Hsu, Kui-Ching; Chen, Jeng-Ping & Shao, Kwang-Tsao (2007): Molecular phylogeny of Chaetodon (Teleostei: Chaetodontidae) in the Indo-West Pacific: evolution in geminate species pairs and species groups. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 14: 77-86. PDF fulltext Archived 2007-08-11 at the Wayback Machine
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chaetodon rafflesii. |
External links
- Photos of Latticed butterflyfish on Sealife Collection