Chaetodon melapterus, Arabian butterflyfish : fisheries, aquarium

Chaetodon melapterus Guichenot, 1863

Arabian butterflyfish
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Chaetodon melapterus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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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; non-migratory (Ref. 52884). Tropical

Distribution Territories | 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 Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 13; Dorsal soft rays (total): 19 - 21; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 18 - 19.
Body shape (shape guide): short and / or deep; Cross section: compressed.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Adults are found in coral rich areas of shallow coastal reefs. Occasionally in aggregations. They 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: Version 2025-2 (Global))

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

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Recruitment
Abundance
Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturity
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Spawning
Spawning aggregations
Eggs
Egg development
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Distribution
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FAO areas
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Occurrences
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BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
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Physiology
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Nutrients
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Swimming type
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Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetics
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Genetics
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Stamps, coins, misc.
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References

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Special reports

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

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

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index
(Ref. 82804) 		PD50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight a=0.02291 (0.01128 - 0.04653), 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 (K=1.4;).
Fishing Vulnerability
(Ref. 59153) 		Low vulnerability (10 of 100). 🛈
Price category
(Ref. 80766) 		Unknown.
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);