Chaetodon larvatus
- Not to be confused with the Triangle Butterflyfish (C. triangulum) or the Bluecheek Butterflyfish (C. semilarvatus).
| Hooded Butterflyfish | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Chaetodontidae |
| Genus: | Chaetodon (but see text) |
| Subgenus: | Gonochaetodon |
| Species: | C. larvatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Chaetodon larvatus G. Cuvier, 1829 | |
The Hooded Butterflyfish, Chaetodon larvatus, is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is found in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and as of 2011 has been recorded as an invasive species in the southeast Mediterranean.[1]
Description
It grows to a normal maximum of 12 cm long.[2] The body is powder blue in colour with a pattern of narrow, white chevron-shaped bars. The head and front of the body are coloured intense red-orange. The back of the dorsal fin and the caudal fin are black.
Ecology and behaviour
The Hooded Butterflyfish is found in seaward and lagoon coral reefs. They usually swim around in pairs and are territorial. Normally this species feeds exclusively on the polyps of the tubular Acropora corals.[3] However, given that it has been observed in the Mediterranean, where coral growth is limited, it may be able to adapt to a different diet.[4]
Phylogeny
The Hooded Butterflyfish is a far western sister species of the Triangle Butterflyfish (C. triangulum), which lives in the Indian Ocean, and C. baronessa, which inhabits the Indo-Pacific. Together these species form the subgenus Gonochaetodon. If Chaetodon is split up as some researchers propose, this group might go into Megaprotodon with other high-backed and square-bodied species, but its exact relationships are still not well known.[5]
Footnotes
References
- Allen, G. R. (1985): Butterfly and Angelfishes of the World. Vol. 2. 3rd ed. Mergus, Melle.
- 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
- Salameh, Pierre; Sonin, Oren; Edelist, Dor & Golani, Daniel (2011): First record of the Red Sea orangeface butterflyfish Chaetodon larvatus (Cuvier, 1831) in the Mediterranean. Aquatic Invasions 6 (1, supplement): s53–s56. doi:10.3391/AI.2011.6.S1.012