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Chaetodontidae
Sign in to saveAlso known as the butterflyfish family
The butterflyfish are a group of conspicuous tropical marine fish of the family Chaetodontidae; the bannerfish and coralfish are also included in this group. The approximately 129 species in 12 genera are found mostly on the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. A number of species pairs occur in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, members of the huge genus Chaetodon.
OverviewAI-generated
Chaetodontidae is a family of marine and brackish fish commonly known as butterflyfishes. The taxon, named by Rafinesque in 1815, holds an accepted status within the classification system. It belongs to the class Teleostei and phylum Chordata. While one source places it in the order Perciformes, another lists it under Acanthuriformes. The family has existed for approximately 72 million years.
Records of this family have been documented in Mexico, the Philippines, the United States, Comoros, and Australia. These records are held by institutions including ECOSUR, TCWC, USNM, MCZ, and CAS. A total of 420 records and three media items are associated with these specific entries, while a broader occurrence count stands at 529,778.
Synthesized by Vinony from 25 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Species
butterflyfishes
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassTeleostei
- OrderPerciformes
- FamilyChaetodontidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 420
- With media
- 3
- Family
- Chaetodontidae
- Collections
- ECOSUR, TCWC, USNM, MCZ, CAS, SIO
- Recorded in
- Mexico, Philippines, United States, Comoros, Australia, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka
~10 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Description and ecology
- Taxonomy, systematics and evolution
- Fossil record
- Genera
- Timeline
- Gallery
- Further reading
- References
The butterflyfish are a group of conspicuous tropical marine fish of the family Chaetodontidae; the bannerfish and coralfish are also included in this group. The approximately 129 species in 12 genera are found mostly on the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. A number of species pairs occur in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, members of the huge genus Chaetodon.
Butterflyfish look like smaller versions of angelfish (Pomacanthidae), but unlike these, lack preopercle spines at the gill covers. Some members of the genus Heniochus resemble the Moorish idol (Zanclus cornutus) of the monotypic Zanclidae. All three families belong to the order Acanthuriformes and share a similar habitat.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Chaetodontidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.