Chaetodon mesoleucos

Chaetodon mesoleucos, the white-faced butterflyfish, is a species off marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish, belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the north western Indian Ocean.

Chaetodon mesoleucos
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Chaetodontidae
Genus: Chaetodon
Subgenus: Chaetodon (Rabdophorus)
Species:
C. mesoleucos
Binomial name
Chaetodon mesoleucos
Forsskål, 1775
Synonyms[2]

Description

Chaetodon mesoleucos has a bluish white anterior part of the body with a vertical black band running through the eye. The rest of the body is pale grey in colour marked with numerous vertical black lines. The caudal fin is black with a white on the inner margin near the caudal peduncle.[3] This species attains a maximum total length of 13 centimetres (5.1 in), although 12 centimetres (4.7 in) is more common.[2]

Distribution

Chaetodon mesoleucos is found in the northwestern Indian Ocean. It occurs from the central Red Sea, into the Gulf of Aden and around Socotra.[1]

Habitat and biology

Chaetodon mesoleucos occurs at depths between 1 and 25 metres (3.3 and 82.0 ft),[1] inhabiting coral reefs where they occur in pairs.[2] They are thought to feed mainly on coral polyps but will eat a variety of benthic invertebrates.[3] Little is known about the biology of this species.[1]

Systematics

Chaetodon mesoleucos was first formally described in 1775 by the Swedish-speaking Finnish explorer, orientalist, naturalist Peter Forsskål (1732-1763), his description was published in 1775 by his companion on his expedition to Yemen, the orientalist and mathematician Carsten Niebuhr. The type locality was given as Al-Mukhā in Yemen.[4] It belongs to the large subgenus Rabdophorus which might warrant recognition as a distinct genus.[5]

Utilsation

Chaetodon mesoleucos is uncommon in the aquarium trade.[1] However, it is not a difficult species to keep in captivity.[3]

References
  1. Myers, R.; Pratchett, M. (2010). "Chaetodon mesoleucos". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T165618A6069401. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T165618A6069401.en. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  2. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2019). "Chaetodon mesoleucos" in FishBase. December 2019 version.
  3. "Chaetodon mesoleucos". Saltcorner. Bob Goemans. 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  4. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Chaetodon". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
  5. Fessler, Jennifer L.; Westneat, Mark W (2007). "Molecular phylogenetics of the butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae): Taxonomy and biogeography of a global coral reef fish family". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 45 (1): 50–68. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.