Ornate butterflyfish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
| Chaetodon ornatissimus Cuvier, 1831 |
The ornate butterflyfish, Chaetodon ornatissimus, is a butterflyfish of the family Chaetodontidae found in the Indo-Pacific oceans from Sri Lanka to the Hawaiian, Marquesan and Ducie islandss, north to southern Japan, south to Lord Howe and Rapa islands, and throughout Micronesia, at depths down to 36 m. Its length is up to 20 cm.
The ornate butterflyfish is white with orange to orange-brown oblique bands on the sides. Two broad yellow-edged black bars are on the head, one running across the eye and another on the snout.
It occurs in clear waters and coral-rich areas of lagoon and seaward reefs, however it is only common in seaward reefs. Juveniles are solitary, living among branching corals, while adults are almost always in pairs and are home-ranging. They feed exclusively on coral tissue.
Reproduction is oviparous, with pairs forming during breeding.
[edit] References
- "Chaetodon ornatissimus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. June 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
