What type of fish is a butterfly fish?

What is the largest genus of butterflyfish?

The largest genus of butterflyfish, and the most widespread, is the genus Chaetodon. The bulk of reef inhabiting species that make their living eating off corals as well as frightening would-be butterfly enthusiast. As a general rule of coral keeping, you should avoid all Chaetodon species like the plague.

Is the yellow teardrop butterflyfish common in Tanzania?

The Yellow Teardrop Butterflyfish (Chaetadon interuptus) is not common in Tanzanian coastal waters, but neither is it rare. They obtain their name from their background color and the teardrop shape on the

Is the fourspot butterflyfish a good aquarium fish?

The Fourspot Butterflyfish is not a good aquarium fish because it is shy and is reluctant to eat. It has a distinctive appearance characterized by the two white spots on the upper sides. It inhabits Oceania, Hawaiian Islands, and various other Pacific Islands.

What do fourspot butterflyfish tell us about the health of coral reefs?

Since fourspot butterflyfish are highly associated with scleractinian coral, they are an indicator of reef health and their relative abundance is contingent on coral reef abundance.

What is a four-spotted butterflyfish?

The four-spotted butterflyfish or fourspot butterflyfish ( Chaetodon quadrimaculatus) is a species of butterflyfish ( family Chaetodontidae) found in the Pacific Ocean from the Ryukyus, Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands and Taiwan to the Hawaiian, Marquesan, and Pitcairn islands,…

How do fourspot butterfly fish reproduce?

Fourspot butterfly fish typically reproduce in monogamous pair bonds. They reproduce via spawn breeding where the gonochoristic males and females release their respective gametes into the water column for fertilization. Eggs are typically less than 1 mm in their pelagic form and fertilized eggs hatch in approximately 30 hours.

What are the specifications of a butterflyfish?

Take a look at some of the key specifications of this saltwater fish.: Butterflyfish is the relative of Coral Fish and Bannerfish, found in the tropical and sub-tropical water. Generally, this fish is well known for its good swimming and maneuvering capabilities through coral reefs.

What are the characteristics of the fourspot butterflyfish?

As one of 90 extant species in the genus Chaetodon, the fourspot butterflyfish shares the following characteristics: a laterally compressed body with bilateral symmetry, and ctenoid scales, identified by their comb-like edges. One defining characteristic of this species is its four rounded, eye-shaped spots, two on each lateral surface.

How much do butterflyfishes affect corals?

A recent study estimated that butterflyfishes consume up to 6% of the standing tissue biomass of corals per year (Cole et al. in press ), and are therefore likely to influence the distribution, abundance and community composition of corals.

Do coral-feeding fishes slow the progression of black-band disease?

Cole A, Chong Seng K, Pratchett M, Jones G (2009) Coral-feeding fishes slow progression of black-band disease. Coral Reefs 28:965-965 Cole AJ, Pratchett MS, Jones GP (2008) Diversity and functional importance of coral-feeding fishes on tropical coral reefs. Fish and Fisheries 9:286-307

What do butterflyfish eat in a coral reef?

Chevron butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifascialis) feeds exclusively on Acropora hyacinthus. Coral reef with plate coral (Acropora hyacinthus) in the foreground. Hard corals create and maintain the hard substrate of coral reefs through the production of their calcium carbonate skeletons.

Do reef-fish communities ameliorate coral disease?

Raymundo LJ, Halford AR, Maypa AP, Kerr AM (2009) Functionally diverse reef-fish communities ameliorate coral disease. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106:17067-17070 Rotjan RD, Lewis SM (2008) Impact of coral predators on tropical reefs. Marine Ecology Progress Series 367:73-91

What is the distribution of the fourspot butterflyfish?

The fourspot butterflyfish is a marine coralivorous organism. Therefore, its noted geographic distribution, as well as population-level spatial distribution and temporal variation in density, is correlated to relative distributions and abundance of the corals that butterflyfish are dependent on for food.

Are butterflyfish safe to keep?

These butterflyfish include C. tinkeri, C. mitratus, C. declivis, C. burgess and C. flavocoronatus. All are hardy, and eat almost anything readily in the aquarium. Having kept four out of the five in full-blown reef set ups, I can say with some confidence that they are on the safer side and worth a try if you are willing to take a little risk.

What are the effects of coral loss on fish?

Some effects of coral loss on fishes will become evident over a relatively short time frame (weeks/months), such as reduced physiological condition and reproductive activity (Pratchett et al. 2004). Over the longer term (years) this may lead to lower abundance and diversity of fishes (Wilson et al. 2006).

Why are coral reefs important to the ecosystem?

Firstly, coral reefs contain the most diverse fish assemblages to be found anywhere (around 6000–8000 species, Lieske and Myers 2001). Secondly, numerous human populations are highly dependent on the ability of coral reefs to provide ecosystem goods and services (e.g., fisheries, tourism, Bellwood et al. 2004).

Why are coral reef fish populations decreasing worldwide?

Thirdly, a serious decline in coral reef fish populations has been observed worldwide due to many factors, such as climate change (Munday et al. 2008; Graham et al. 2013), overfishing (Paddack et al. 2009), invasive species (Kulbicki et al. 2011), and pollution (Adjeroud et al. 2010).

Do skeletal-feeding species pose a threat to coral reefs?

Skeletal-feeding species have a greater potential to impact the physical structure of coral reefs, especially the larger species whose deep bites effectively excavate the coral skeleton causing substantial damage to the coral species which they selectively target.

Why do corals get diseased?

Why do corals get diseased? Just like humans, corals can get diseases, and just like humans, their sensitivity to disease increases stress. With intense mass coral bleaching happening in the Maldives (April-May 2016), we’re unfortunately seeing more and more diseases around our reefs.

How does blast fishing affect coral reefs?

Coral’s damage. The direct effects of the coral reefs destruction is the damage on the corals themselves. The dynamite from blast fishing has enough strength to destroy fragile coral’s colonies in just one blast. Even the smallest piece of dynamite can explode an area of an half to one meter in diameter.

What would happen if we destroyed coral reefs?

These marine reptiles feed on prey found in the coral reefs like crustaceans, herbivorous fish, etc. Destroying the coral reef means destroying the marine reptiles’ populations since they depend on the coral reef for food and shelter. 11. Economic deflation on tourism As the coral reefs disappear, the underwater’s scenery becomes less attractive.

Does coral colony size affect the relationship between fish and coral communities?

These results show that the spatial scale of sampling can have a significant effect on the strength of the relationship between coral and fish communities, but does not alter the basic patterns. We found that fish species richness and abundance increased with coral colony size for the three coral species examined.

How many species of fish live in coral reefs?

Coral reefs support more species per unit area than any other marine environment, including about 4,000 species of fish, 800 species of hard corals and hundreds of other species. Scientists estimate that there may be millions of undiscovered species of organisms living in and around reefs.

What makes a reef a good reef habitat?

Reefs with higher relief and/or complexity often provide more habitat for of fish and reef biota. Herbivorous fish are a key indicator group as they are important grazers that keep algae from overgrowing corals. Large-sized parrotfish (>20cm) remove more algae.

What is a coral reef?

Coral reefs are living organisms that provide an important ecosystem for a variety of marine life. Made up of millions of individual animals called ‘polyps’, corals grow very slowly into impressive three-dimensional structures, creating a living home for fish, molluscs, sponges, sea urchins, and other colourful wonders of the deep.