Marine Life of #World's » #Butterflyfishes

Butterflyfishes mostly range from 12 to 22 cm (4.7 to 8.7 in) in length. The largest species, the lined butterflyfish and the saddle butterflyfish, grow to 30 cm (12 in). 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. Many have eyepots on their flanks and dark bands across their eyes, not unlike the patterns seen on butterfly wings. Their deep, laterally narrow bodies are easily noticed through the profusion of reef life. The conspicuous coloration of butterflyfishes 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 18 m (59 ft) deep (though some species descend to 180 m (590 ft)), butterflyfishes stick to particular home ranges. These coralivores 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.

Butterflyfishes 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. Only one other family of fish, the scats express such an armored stage.
(source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterflyfish)

Teardrop butterflyfish

Chaetodon unimaculatus

Darren J. Bradley (C) All rights reserved
Vagabond butterflyfish

Chaetodon vagabundus

orlandin (C) All rights reserved
Yellowhead butterflyfish

Chaetodon xanthocephalus

kaschibo (C) All rights reserved
Copperband butterflyfish

Chelmon rostratus

orlandin (C) All rights reserved
Longnose butterflyfish (adult)

Forcipiger flavissimus

brian.gratwicke (CC: BY)
Longnose butterflyfish (juvenile)

Forcipiger flavissimus

orlandin (C) All rights reserved
Big longnose butterflyfish (juvenile)

Forcipiger longirostris

Andrea Izzotti (C) All rights reserved
Pyramid butterflyfish

Hemitaurichthys polylepis

orlandin (C) All rights reserved