Speckled Butterflyfish
Chaetodon citrinellus
Summary 2
Chaetodon citrinellus is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is commonly known as the speckled butterflyfish or citron butterflyfish. It is found in the Indo-Pacific: the Red Sea, East Africa to the Hawaiian, Marquesan and Tuamotu islands, north to southern Japan and south to Australia.
Description and ecology 3
As its names suggest, it is pale yellow with numerous small dark spots. There is also a black bar extending above and below the eye and a black margin to the anal fin. The largest recorded specimen was 13 centimeters (5.1 in) long.
C. citrinellus is common in shallow exposed reef flats, lagoons, and seaward reefs, generally in relatively open areas with scattered corals. They may occasionally be found at greater depth, as deep as 36 meters (118 ft). They feed on small worms, small benthic invertebrates, coral polyps and filamentous algae.
Adults usually swim in pairs (pairs form during breeding), while juveniles are more often seen in small aggregations and commonly mix with other similar sized juveniles, especially of the Sunburst Butterflyfish (C. kleinii). They are oviparous.
Sources and Credits
- (c) John Sear, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by John Sear
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaetodon_citrinellus
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speckled_butterflyfish
