Butterflyfish

{{Short description|Tropical marine fish of the family Chaetodontidae}} {{hatnote group| {{Redirect|Butterfly Fish|the novel|Butterfly Fish (novel)}} {{About||an unrelated species|Freshwater butterflyfish}} }} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Saltwater butterflyfishes | fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Early Oligocene|present}} | image = Pacific double-saddle butterflyfish (Chaetodon ulietensis) and other Chaetodon Moorea.jpg | image_caption = Pacific double-saddle butterflyfish, vagabond butterflyfish, threadfin butterflyfish | taxon = Chaetodontidae | authority = Rafinesque, 1810 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = About 10, see text | synonyms = Chaetodontinae (but see text) }}

The '''butterflyfish''' are a group of conspicuous tropical marine fish of the family '''Chaetodontidae'''; the '''bannerfish''' and '''coralfish''' are also included in this group. The approximately 129 species in 12 genera<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fishbase.org/summary/FamilySummary.php?ID=343|title=FAMILY Details for Chaetodontidae - Butterflyfishes|website=www.fishbase.org}}</ref> are found mostly on the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. A number of species pairs occur in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, members of the huge genus ''Chaetodon''.

Butterflyfish look like smaller versions of angelfish (Pomacanthidae), but unlike these, lack preopercle spines at the gill covers. Some members of the genus ''Heniochus'' resemble the Moorish idol (''Zanclus cornutus'') of the monotypic Zanclidae. All three families belong to the order Acanthuriformes<ref name=":1" /> and share a similar habitat.

==Description and ecology== [[File:Heniochus diphreutes Maldives.JPG|alt=Fish bearing two strong black stripes separated by one strong white stripe with long white tendril as dorsal fin|thumb|A school of false Moorish idols, ''Heniochus diphreutes'']] Butterflyfish mostly range from {{Convert|12|to|22|cm|abbr=on}} in length. The largest species, the lined butterflyfish and the saddle butterflyfish, ''C. ephippium'', grow to {{Convert|30|cm|abbr=on}}. The common name references the brightly coloured and strikingly patterned bodies of many species, bearing shades of black, white, blue, red, orange, and yellow. Other species are dull in colour. Butterflyfish are a boundless, different group of marine percoids with delegates on practically all coral reef frameworks and in every single tropical ocean. Their bright and color patterns have drawn in much consideration, creating an abundance of data about their conduct and environment.<ref>Smith, W. (2003). The evolution of the laterophysic connection with a revised phylogeny and taxonomy of butterflyfishes (Teleostei: Chaetodontidae). Cladistics the International Journal of the Willi Hennig Society., 19(4), 287–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0748-3007(03)00070-7</ref> Many have eyespots on their flanks and dark bands across their eyes, not unlike the patterns seen on butterfly wings.<ref name="EoF"> {{cite book |editor=Paxton, J.R. |editor2=Eschmeyer, W.N.|author1=Johnson, G.D. |author2=Gill, A.C. |year=1998|title=Encyclopedia of Fishes|publisher= Academic Press|location=San Diego|pages= 184|isbn= 978-0-12-547665-2}}</ref> Their deep, laterally narrow bodies are easily noticed through the profusion of reef life. The conspicuous coloration of butterflyfish may be intended for interspecies communication. Butterflyfish have uninterrupted dorsal fins with tail fins that may be rounded or truncated, but are never forked.

Generally diurnal and frequenting waters less than {{Convert|18|m|abbr=on}} deep (though some species descend to {{Convert|180|m|abbr=on}}, butterflyfish stick to particular home ranges. These corallivores are especially territorial, forming pairs and staking claim to a specific coral head. Contrastingly, the zooplankton feeders form large conspecific groups. By night, butterflyfish hide in reef crevices and exhibit markedly different coloration.

Their coloration also makes them popular aquarium fish. However, most species feed on coral polyps and sea anemones. Balancing the relative populations of prey and predator is complex, leading hobby aquarists to focus on the few generalists and specialist zooplankton feeders.

Butterflyfish are pelagic spawners; that is, they release many buoyant eggs into the water, which become part of the plankton, floating with the currents until hatching. The fry go through a tholichthys stage, wherein the body of the postlarval fish is covered in large, bony plates extending from the head. They lose their bony plates as they mature.<ref name="EoF" /> Only one other family of fish, the scats (Scatophagidae) express such an armored stage.

==Taxonomy, systematics and evolution== {{Easy CSS image crop|Image=Triptych of sea.jpg|desired_width=250|align=right|crop_top_perc=20|crop_right_perc=30|crop_left_perc=25|crop_bottom_perc=25|caption=Red Sea raccoon butterflyfish (''Chaetodon fasciatus'') and Red Sea bannerfish (''Heniochus intermedius'') with a moon jelly}} The Chaetodontidae can be, but are not usually, divided into two lineages that arguably are subfamilies. The subfamily name '''Chaetodontinae''' is a little-used leftover from the period when the Pomacanthidae and Chaetodontidae were united under the latter name as a single family. Hence, Chaetodontinae is today considered a junior synonym of Chaetodontidae. In any case, one lineage of Chaetodontidae (in the modern sense) contains the "typical" butterflyfish around ''Chaetodon'', while the other unites the bannerfish and coralfish genera. As the Perciformes are highly paraphyletic, the precise relationships of the Chaetodontidae as a whole are badly resolved.<ref name="fw2007">Fessler & Westneat (2007)</ref>

Chaetodontidae is classified within the suborder Percoidei by the 5th edition of ''Fishes of the World'', but they are placed in an unnamed clade which sits outside the superfamily Percoidea. This clade contains 7 families which appear to have some relationship to Acanthuroidei, Monodactylidae, and Priacanthidae.<ref name = Nelson5>{{cite book |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |author1=J. S. Nelson |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |year=2016 |pages=453 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |access-date=2020-11-19 |archive-date=2019-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Other authorities have paced the family in the order Chaetodontiformes alongside the family Leiognathidae.<ref name="Betancur-Rodriguez-4">{{cite journal | author1 = R. Betancur-Rodriguez | author2 = E. Wiley | author3 = N. Bailly | author4 = A. Acero | author5 = M. Miya | author6 = G. Lecointre | author7 = G. Ortí | doi = 10.1186/s12862-017-0958-3 | title = Phylogenetic Classification of Bony Fishes – Version 4 | year = 2017 | journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology | volume = 17 | issue = 162| page = 162 | pmid = 28683774 | pmc = 5501477 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Presently, based on the most recent phylogenetic analyses, ''Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes'' places it in the large, diverse order Acanthuriformes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Fricke |first1=R. |last2=Eschmeyer |first2=W. N. |last3=Van der Laan |first3=R. |date=2025 |title=ESCHMEYER'S CATALOG OF FISHES: CLASSIFICATION |url=https://www.calacademy.org/eschmeyers-catalog-of-fishes-classification |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=California Academy of Sciences |language=en}}</ref> Molecular analyses suggest that the Chaetodontidae shared a common ancestor with the Scatophagidae and Pomacanthidae that lived during the Early Eocene (54 Ma).<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Marrama' |first1=Giuseppe |last2=Giusberti |first2=Luca |last3=Carnevale |first3=Giorgio |date=2022-04-28 |title=A Rupelian Coral Reef Fish Assemblage from the Venetian Southern Alps (Berici Hills, Ne Italy) |journal=Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia |language=en |volume=128 |issue=2 |doi=10.54103/2039-4942/16601 |issn=2039-4942|doi-access=free |hdl=11577/3443920 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Before DNA sequencing, the taxonomy was confused about whether to treat these as species or subspecies. Also, numerous subgenera have been proposed for splitting out of ''Chaetodon'', and it is becoming clear how to subdivide the genus if that is desired.<ref>Fessler & Westneat (2007), Hsu ''et al.'' (2007)</ref>

=== Fossil record === The fossil record of this group is disputed and marginal. Their restriction to coral reefs means their carcasses are liable to be dispersed by scavengers, overgrown by corals, and any that do fossilize will not long survive erosion. Many Eocene-aged fish such as ''Pygaeus'' have been variously referred to Chaetodontidae in the past; if used for calibration, it can be deduced that most living genera were probably distinct by the end of the Paleogene 23 Mya.<ref>Sepkoski (2002), Fessler & Westneat (2007)</ref> However, these Eocene genera cannot be reliably referred to Chaetodontidae.<ref name=":0" />

The earliest confirmed fossil specimens of Chaetodontidae are an indeterminate larval specimen from Frauenweiler, Germany, two tholichthys specimens from the Menilite Formation of Poland, as well as the extinct species ''Chaetodon (Blumchaetodon) wattsi'' from Italy; all date to the Early Oligocene. The occurrence of the first confirmed butterflyfish in the Early Oligocene is supported by molecular phylogenies indicating that the family may have arose during the Late Eocene.<ref name=":0" />

===Genera=== The family can be divided in two groups (the bannerfish-coralfish lineage and the butterflyfish lineage) considered distinct subfamilies by ''Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes'':<ref name="fw2007" /><ref>{{FishBase family|family=Chaetodontidae|month=February|year=2013}}</ref><ref name="CofF">{{Cof family|family=Chaetodontidae|access-date=3 September 2025}}</ref>

* Family '''Chaetodontidae''' Rafinesque, 1815 ** Subfamily Heniochinae Kaup, 1860 (bannerfishes and coralfishes) *** ''Amphichaetodon'' Burgess, 1978 *** ''Coradion'' Kaup, 1860 *** ''Chelmon'' Cloquet, 1817 *** ''Chelmonops'' Bleeker, 1876 *** ''Forcipiger'' Jordan & McGregor, 1898 *** ''Hemitaurichthys'' Bleeker, 1876 *** ''Heniochus'' Cuvier, 1816 *** ''Johnrandallia'' Nalbant, 1974 ** Subfamily Chaetodontinae Rafinesque, 1815 *** ''Chaetodon'' Linnaeus, 1758 *** ''Prognathodes'' Gill, 1862 ** Subfamily ''incertae sedis'' *** ''Parachaetodon'' Bleeker, 1874 *** ''Roa'' Jordan, 1923

===Timeline=== <timeline> ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px

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bar:periodtop from: -66 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:Paleocene from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:Eocene from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:Oligocene from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:Miocene from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text:Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:Pleist. from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text:H.

bar:eratop from: -66 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:Paleogene from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:Neogene from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text:Q.

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color:oligocene bar:NAM1 from: -28.4 till: 0 text: Chaetodon color:miocene bar:NAM2 from: -23.03 till: 0 text: Chelmon

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bar:period from: -66 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text:Paleocene from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text:Eocene from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text:Oligocene from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text:Miocene from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text:Plio. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text:Pleist. from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text:H.

bar:era from: -66 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:Paleogene from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:Neogene from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text:Q. </timeline>

==Gallery== <gallery> Image:Seattle Aquarium, 1.JPG|Copperband butterflyfish, ''Chelmon rostratus'' Image:Johnrandallia nigrirostris.jpg|The enigmatic ''Johnrandallia nigrirostris'' Image:Chaetodon kleinii.jpg|Sunburst butterflyfish, (sometimes placed in ''Lepidochaetodon'') Image:Bep chaetodon bennetti.jpg|Bluelashed butterflyfish, ''Chaetodon bennetti'' (sometimes placed in ''Megaprotodon'') </gallery>

==Further reading== * Pratchett, Morgan S. & Berumen, Michael L. & Kapoor, B.G. [Editors] : ''Biology of Butterflyfishes.'' CRC Press, 2014. {{ISBN|978-1-4665-8290-3}}

==References== ;General * {{Aut|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) * {{Aut|FishBase}} [2008]: [http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/FamilySummary.cfm?ID=343 Family Chaetodontidae – Butterflyfishes]. Retrieved 2008-SEP-02. *{{cite journal |url=http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s14/s14rbz10_Hsu-pp77-86.pdf |title= Molecular phylogeny of ''Chaetodon'' (Teleostei: Chaetodontidae) in the Indo-West Pacific: evolution in geminate species pairs and species groups |last1=Ching Hsu |first1=Kui|last2=Ping Chen |first2=Jeng|last3=Tsao Shao |first3=Kwang|date= 31 January 2007 |journal= Academia Sinica and National University of Singapore |volume= 14 |page= 77-86 |access-date= 16 April 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070811042056/http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/s14/s14rbz10_Hsu-pp77-86.pdf |archive-date= 11 August 2007 }} Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement 2007 * {{Aut|Sepkoski, Jack}} (2002): [''Chaetodon'']. ''In:'' A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. ''Bulletins of American Paleontology'' '''364''': 560. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090220223520/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class HTML database excerpt]

;Specific {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Chaetodontidae}} * {{wti}}

Category:Chaetodontidae Category:Articles which contain graphical timelines Category:Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Category:Extant Rupelian first appearances