Chaetodon rafflesii, Photo: Michael Lahanas Cladus: Eukaryota The Latticed Butterflyfish, Chaetodon rafflesii, is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is found in the Indo-Pacific region from Sri Lanka to the Tuamotu Islands, north to southern Japan, south to the Great Barrier Reef, and from Palau (Belau) to the eastern Caroline Islands in Micronesia.[1] It grows to a maximum of 18 cm (7.1 in) long. The body color is yellow with a cross-hatched pattern of darker lines on the sides; it has a vertical black eyestripe and a vertical black line in the caudal fin. The peculiarly-patterned C. rafflesii belongs to the large subgenus Rabdophorus which might warrant recognition as a distinct genus. In this group, it seems to represent a rather unique lineage, with perhaps just the White-faced Butterflyfish (C. mesoleucos) being less distantly related.[2] The Latticed Butterflyfish is an uncommon species found in areas of rich coral growth of lagoons and protected reef flats and seaward reefs from 1-20 m depth. It feeds on sea anemones, polychaetes, and octocorallian and scleractinian coral polyps.[1] Footnotes 1. ^ a b FishBase (2008)
* 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 (HTML abstract) Source: Wikipedia, Wikispecies: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
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