Chaetodon wiebeli | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Perciformes |
Family: | Chaetodontidae |
Genus: | Chaetodon |
Subgenus: | Chaetodon (Rabdophorus) |
Species: | C. wiebeli
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Binomial name | |
Chaetodon wiebeli Kaup, 1863
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Synonyms[2] | |
Chaetodon wiebeli, commonly known as the Hong Kong butterflyfish, Wiebel's butterflyfish or blackcap butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is native to the Western Pacific Ocean.
Chaetodon wiebeli has an oval shaped, deep and strongly compressed body with a head which is the same height as its width and a short snout with a small protractile mouth equipped with setiform teeth in its jaws.[3] These teeth are referred to in the genus name Chaetodon which means "bristle tooth".[4] It has a smooth preopercle which does not have any obvious spines.[3] The colouration is mainly yellow marked with oblique brown lines. There is a vertical black band running through the eye, with a white bar to its rear, and a black blotch on the forehead. The dorsal, anal, pelvic and caudal fins are yellow, although the caudal fin has a black margin.[5] The dorsal fin contains a total of 12–13 spines and 22–25 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 18–20 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 19 centimetres (7.5 in).[2]
Chaetodon wiebeli is found in the western Pacific Ocean from southern Japan and South Korea to northern Java, extending into the Gulf of Thailand.[1]
Chaetodon wiebeli is found in both rocky and coral reefs, where they are normally encountered in pairs and in small shoals.[2] They feed on coral polyps, benthic invertebrates and algae.[5] This is an oviparous species which forms pairs during breeding.[2] They may be solitary and their main feeding technique is grazing algae off rocks.[1] They can ben found at depths of 4 to 25 metres (13 to 82 ft).[3]
Chaetodon wiebeli was first formally described in 1863 by the German ichthyologist Johann Jakob Kaup (1803–1873) with the type locality given as Canton in China.[6] The specific name honours Kaup's friend, the naturalist and one of the founders of the Zoological Museum in Hamburg, Karl Maximilian Wiebel (1808–1888).[4] It belongs to the large subgenus Rabdophorus which might warrant recognition as a distinct genus.[7]