Phantom banner fish
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Phantom Bannerfish ( Heniochus pleurotaenia ) |
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| Heniochus pleurotaenia | ||||||||||||
| Ahl , 1923 |
The phantom banner fish or Indian horn banner fish ( Heniochus pleurotaenia ) is a species from the butterfly fish family (Chaetodon). It lives in the coral reefs of the tropical Indian Ocean , from the Maldives and Sri Lanka north to the Andaman Sea and the southwest coast of Thailand and the Malay Peninsula , east to Java . In the western Pacific it is replaced by the very similar brown banner fish ( Heniochus varius ) ( vicarious species ).
features
The phantom banner fish is 17 to 18 centimeters long. Its body is flattened on the sides, high-backed and of a white basic color with two dark, broad markings. The first extends from the pelvic fins to the middle of the body below the hard-radiating dorsal fin part. The second runs from the soft-radiating part of the anal fin upwards ( pleurotaenia (Greek, Latinized) "lateral stripe"). The eye region and the tip of the snout are also black. As with the brown banner fish, the head is characterized by bony outgrowths above the eyes and on the forehead. In juvenile fish, the spines of the dorsal fin are drawn out into a short pennant.
Fin formula : dorsal X / 23-25, anal III / 17-18.
Way of life
The phantom banner fish occurs in lagoons and outer reefs with mixed algae and stony coral growth at depths of up to 15, a maximum of 25 meters. The fish live in pairs or in groups of up to 30 animals; in Indonesia mostly in pairs, in the Maldives more in groups. During the breeding season, they form pairs everywhere. The phantom bannerfish likely feed primarily on bottom-dwelling invertebrates .
literature
- Hans A. Baensch , Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 6. Non-Perciformes (non-perch-like) . Mergus-Verlag, Melle 1998 ISBN 3-88244-116-X
- 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
Web links
- Phantom banner fish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Heniochus pleurotaenia inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Myers, R. & Pratchett, M., 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2014.