Chaetodon melapterus, Arabian butterflyfish : aquarium

You can sponsor this page

Chaetodon melapterus Guichenot, 1863

Arabian butterflyfish
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Chaetodon melapterus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Stamps, Coins Misc. | Google image
Image of Chaetodon melapterus (Arabian butterflyfish)
Chaetodon melapterus
Picture by Field, R.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Acanthuriformes (Surgeonfishes) > Chaetodontidae (Butterflyfishes)
Etymology: Chaetodon: Greek, chaite = hair + Greek, odous = teeth (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Guichenot.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated. Tropical

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Indian Ocean: Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman; off the Red Sea coast of Yemen and other islands to the south. Although the type locality was stated to be Reunion and cited by several references as occurring there, it is probably erroneous; the species apparently does not occur in the Mascarenes (Ref. 33390).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 13.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 11441)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 13; Dorsal soft rays (total): 19-21; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 18 - 19

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found in coral rich areas of shallow coastal reefs. Occasionally in aggregations. Feed exclusively on coral polyps (Ref. 9710). Oviparous (Ref. 205). Form pairs during breeding (Ref. 205).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Form pairs during breeding (Ref. 205). Monogamous mating is observed as both obligate and social (Ref. 52884).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Burgess, W.E., 1978. Butterflyfishes of the world. A monograph of the Family Chaetodontidae. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. (Ref. 4855)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 07 October 2009

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Spawning aggregation
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
BRUVS
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Nutrients
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 25.2 - 29.3, mean 27.1 °C (based on 298 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02291 (0.01133 - 0.04632), b=3.00 (2.83 - 3.17), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.3   ±0.61 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 0.8 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low vulnerability (10 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 123 [63, 194] mg/100g; Iron = 0.929 [0.544, 1.577] mg/100g; Protein = 18.6 [17.4, 19.8] %; Omega3 = 0.129 [0.075, 0.218] g/100g; Selenium = 37.1 [19.5, 70.6] μg/100g; VitaminA = 48 [14, 169] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.58 [1.06, 2.31] mg/100g (wet weight);