Bluecheek butterflyfish

Not to be confused with the Hooded Butterflyfish (Chaetodon larvatus).

Blue-cheeked butterflyfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Chaetodontidae
Genus:	Chaetodon (but see text)
Subgenus:	Rabdophorus
Species:	C. semilarvatus
Binomial name
Chaetodon semilarvatus G. Cuvier, 1831

The blue-cheeked butterflyfish, Chaetodon semilarvatus, is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is found in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, at depths of between 3 and 20 m.^[1]

The blue-cheeked butterflyfish belongs to the large subgenus Rabdophorus which might warrant recognition as a distinct genus. In this group, it seems closest to a group containing the Blackback butterflyfish (C. melannotus), the spot-naped butterflyfish (C. oxycephalus), or the peculiar black-wedged butterflyfish (C. falcula) and Pacific double-saddle butterflyfish or "false falcula", (C. ulietensis). Though the present species does not share their white body with black on the back and caudal peduncle and even lacks the typical eyestripe of Chaetodon, it has the same tell-tale blue vertical lines as these species.^[2]

Description

Its length is up to 13 cm (5.1 in). It is mostly yellow, with thin slate blue vertical lines on the sides and a slate blue cheek patch in lieu of the usual black eyestripe of most Chaetodon.

Behavior

This species is one of the few fish species to have long-term mates.^[3] In the wild, the fish eats hard corals as well as benthic invertebrates.^[4]

Footnotes

1. FishBase (2008)
2. Fessler & Westneat (2007), Hsu et al. (2007)
3. Karen McGhee, George Mckay. Encyclopedia of animals. 2007. ISBN 0-7922-5936-X
4. Tristan Lougher (2006). What Fish?: A Buyer's Guide to Marine Fish. Interpet Publishing. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-84286-118-9.

References

• 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)
• FishBase (2008): Chaetodon semilarvatus. Version of 2008-JUL-24. Retrieved 2008-SEP-01.
• 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