Butterflyfish

of false Moorish idols, Heniochus diphreutes Butterflyfish mostly range from in length. The largest species, the lined butterflyfish and the saddle butterflyfish, C. ephippium, grow to . 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. Many have eyespots 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 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 deep (though some species descend to , 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. Only one other family of fish, the scats (Scatophagidae) express such an armored stage. ==Taxonomy, systematics and evolution==

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. 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. Other authorities have paced the family in the order Chaetodontiformes alongside the family Leiognathidae. Presently, based on the most recent phylogenetic analyses, ''Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes'' places it in the large, diverse order Acanthuriformes. Molecular analyses suggest that the Chaetodontidae shared a common ancestor with the Scatophagidae and Pomacanthidae that lived during the Early Eocene (54 Ma). 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. 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. However, these Eocene genera cannot be reliably referred to Chaetodontidae. • 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 ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-66 till:10 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:-66 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-66 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:cenozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) id:neogene value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:miocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.999999,0) id:pliocene value:rgb(0.97,0.98,0.68) id:quaternary value:rgb(0.98,0.98,0.5) id:pleistocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.95,0.68) id:holocene value:rgb(0.999,0.95,0.88) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:NAM2 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) 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. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:oligocene bar:NAM1 from: -28.4 till: 0 text: Chaetodon color:miocene bar:NAM2 from: -23.03 till: 0 text: Chelmon PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 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. ==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) ==Further reading==