Striped butterflyfish
| Striped butterflyfish | ||||||||||||
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Striped butterflyfish ( Chaetodon striatus ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Chaetodon striatus | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
The striped butterflyfish ( Chaetodon striatus ) is a species from the butterflyfish family (Chaetodon). It occurs in the western Atlantic, from southern Brazil, the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Rocks , over the coasts of the Caribbean islands up to Massachusetts on the Atlantic coast of the USA. It is particularly common in the Gulf of Mexico . It lives at depths of three to 20, at most up to 55 meters. The striped butterflyfish was scientifically described by Carl von Linné in his Systema Naturae as early as 1758 .
features
The striped butterfly fish becomes 16 centimeters long. Its body is flattened on the sides, high back and characterized by two broad, dark transverse bands over the otherwise silvery white body. Another narrow band camouflages the eyes. A wide black stripe on the basal part of the soft-rayed dorsal fin continues on the caudal stalk and then on the soft-rayed part of the anal fin. The pelvic fins are also dark except for the fin spines. The edges of the dorsal, caudal and anal fin are yellowish white. Young fish have a noticeable eye spot in the back of the dorsal fin, which disappears with age.
Fin formula : Dorsal XII / 19–21, Anale III / 16–17.
Systematics
The striped butterflyfish belongs to the subgenus Chaetodon , which is not monophyletic . Together with Chaetodon capistratus and Chaetodon ocellatus, it forms a monophyletic group of West Atlantic butterfly fish, which is the sister group of the subgenus Radophorus .
Way of life
The striped butterflyfish live singly or in pairs over rocky and coral reefs . Adult animals also form schools of up to twenty specimens that hunt for zooplankton . Investigations of the stomach and intestinal contents of 16 specimens caught in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands by the American ichthyologist John Ernest Randall (1924-2020) showed that they were mainly featherworms (Sabellidae), calcareous tube worms (Serpulidae), other multi-bristle from the Family of the Terebellidae , and coral polyps feed. He was also able to detect mollusc eggs and the remains of small crustaceans . Every now and then, striped butterfly fish also clean larger fish such as parrot fish , surgeon fish and sweetlips of parasites and dead skin. The eggs of the striped butterfly fish are laid in open water. Its larvae live on and in the plankton.
literature
- Rudie H. Kuiter , Helmut Debelius : Butterfly fish, Chaetodon . Ulmer Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-8001-4243-0
- Gerald R. Allen : Butterfly and Angelfish, Volume 2 . Mergus Verlag, 1979, ISBN 3-88244-002-3
Remarks
- ↑ 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
Web links
- Striped Butterflyfish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Chaetodon striatus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: Myers, R. & Rocha, LA, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2014.