Flag butterflyfish

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Flag butterflyfish
Flagged butterflyfish (Chaetodon auriga setifer)

Flagged butterflyfish ( Chaetodon auriga setifer )

Systematics
Spinefish (Acanthopterygii)
Perch relatives (Percomorphaceae)
Order : Surgeonfish (Acanthuriformes)
Family : Butterflyfish (Chaetodon)
Genre : Chaetodon
Type : Flag butterflyfish
Scientific name
Chaetodon auriga
Forsskål , 1775

The flagged butterflyfish ( Chaetodon auriga ) is a species from the butterflyfish family .

The flagged butterflyfish reach a length of 18 to 20 centimeters. It lives at depths of 1 to 10 meters in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific from the coast of East Africa to the Marquesas .

The fish has a high-backed, laterally flattened body. As is typical for many butterfly fish, the flag butterfly fish also has a conspicuous, black eye spot in the rear area of ​​the dorsal fin . This eye spot is an adaptation to optically oriented predators. When chasing their prey fish, predatory fish often focus on their eyes and are thus deceived as to their direction of flight. A black stripe camouflages the eye. The pennant butterflyfish from the Red Sea lack the eye spot. It is described by some scientists as a separate subspecies Chaetodon auriga auriga . The animals from the Indo-Pacific are then the subspecies Chaetodon auriga setifer .

Flagged butterfly fish feed on the polyps of hard and soft corals , bristle worms , algae , small crustaceans and snails .

literature

Web links

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