Butterflyfish
Olivia Horton
Maddie Ginn
Chaetodontidae Characteristics



Order: Perciformes
“hair tooth”
Brightly colored
◦ Eye camouflage


Travel in pairs
Disk-shaped bodies
◦ Spiny dorsal fin
◦ Less than 8 inches
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
“Indicator species”
Approx 130 different species
Hawaiian Butterflyfish
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
23 Species
Black, yellow, and white
◦ Exception: Thompson’s Butterflyfish
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Many local names
◦ Kikakapu, lauhau, lauwilwili
www.fishbase.se
Kikakapu
Threadfin Butterflyfish
 Saddleback Butterflyfish
 Bluestripe Butterflyfish
 Lined Butterflyfish
 Racoon Butterflyfish
 Multiband Butterflyfish
 Ornate Butterflyfish

www.animal-world.com
www.botany.hawaii.edu
Kapuhili

Oval Butterflyfish
www.gohawaii.about.com
Lauhau
Fourspot Butterflyfish
 Teardrop Butterflyfish

www.bluezooaquatics.com
www.animal-world.com
Lauwiliwili
Milletseed Butterflyfish
 Lauwiliwili nukunuku ‘oi ‘oi

◦ Common longnose Butterflyfish
◦ Big longnose Butterflyfish
www.ocean.si.edu
www.reefseekers.com
Others
Blacklip Butterflyfish
 Reticulated Butterflyfish
 Tinker’s Butterflyfish
 Chevron Butterflyfish
 Pyramid Butterflyfish
 Thompson’s Butterflyfish
 Pennant Butterflyfish

www.worldwidereefers.com
www.animal-world.com
Movement

Tail fin
◦ rudder

Pectoral fins
◦ speed/forward motion

Quick movements
◦ “flitting, darting motion”
◦ Escape predation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBZkmCkg
Qv0
Habitat
Depends on
feeding habits
 Long-term
territories
 Shallow waters

◦ Most dwell on reef

Active during the
day
www.coral.org
Solitary vs.
Schooling
- Solitary
- Often Territorial
- Some species
school together.
Reproductive Biology

Mating system
◦ Mainly Monogamous
◦ Some Polygamy

Palagic Spawners
◦ Buoyant eggs.
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnv_oT8ClsM
Fixed Sex
 Sexual Dimorphism

Diet and Feeding Specializations
Diets
 Corallivores
 Planktivores
 Generalists
Feeding Specializations
 Mouths
 Diurnal
Defensive Morphology
and Behavior
Bony Plates.
 Intraspecific aggression.
 Fish of Prey

◦ Pair bright colors with dark spots.
◦ Hide in coral crevices.
◦ Schooling
A Study of Monogamy in
Chaetodon trichrous
The Tahitian Butterflyfish.
 Know they mate in pairs. Why?
 Hypotheses?
 observed:
◦ Feeding preferences
◦ territorial behavior
◦ Proximity to conspecifics
◦ sex of pairs.

Methods
Preliminary Observations:
-Swam transects.
- Found food most preferred.
 Behavioral Observations:

◦ How fish behave as a pair
-How much/type of food pairs ate.
- Distance to nearest conspecifics.
- Sexed fish by gonad analysis.
Results
Ate hard substrate.
 Found heterosexual pairs.
 Pairs remained close.
 Females ate more.
 Showed territorial behaviors.

Discussion

Hard substrate was
not a limiting
resource.
◦ Did limit males though.



Significantly
distributed by size.
Mate ability not low.
Conclusion: size and
joint defense of
territory.
“The laterophysic connection in
chaetodontid butterflyfish:
morphological variation and
speculations on sensory function”
Introduction
•Swim bladders
•Buoyancy
•Horned
•Otophysic connection
•Contact with skull/inner ear
•related to sensitivity to pressure
stimuli
•Laterophysic connection
•Contact with lateral
•Possibly sensitive to flow stimuli
•Direct and Indirect connection
•Two questions
•Morphology variation within species?
•Patterns in variation?
www.csi.whoi.edu
Materials/Methods


Eight species, 27 specimens
Specimens from Oahu, Hawaii
◦ Different ecological backgrounds
Anesthetized, fixed,
radiographed
 Bisected, decalcified
 Tissue trimmed, dehydrated,
and stained.
 Measurements/observations
recorded

www.animals.nationalgeographic.com
www.gohawaii.com
Results

Medial fossa in supracleithrum
◦ 1 direct connection, 3 indirect connection
◦ Oval neuromast
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No intraspecific variation or sexual
dimorphism
Interspecific variation
5 indirect connections
2 direct connections
1 species without connection
Swim bladder variations
Laterophysic Connection
Laterophysic Connection
Discussion/Conclusion

Lack of intraspecific
differentiation
◦ Good species indicator
No feeding ecology
 Phylogenetic pattern
 Similar to otic pressure
system
 Variation important to
function

www.coral.org
Works Cited

Altonn, Helen. "Studies of Kahoolawe Reefs Focus on Butterflyfish." Honolulu Star - Bulletin: n/a. Oct
29 2002. ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2013

Butterflyfish. (2013). Retrieved from Encyclopedia Britannica:
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/86689/butterfly-fish

Hoover, J. P. (2009). The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes Sea Turtles, Dolphins,Whales, and
Honolulu, Hawaii: Mutual Publishing, LLC.

Jacqueline F. Webb, W. L. (2000). The Laterophysic Connection in Chaetodontid Butterflyfish:
Morphologic
Variation and Speculation on Sensory Function. Philosophical Transections:
Biological Sciences , 335
(1401), 1125-1129.

Motta, Phillip. "Social Groupings in 18 Species of Butterflyfish and Pair Bond Weakening
Nonreproductive Season." Canadian Journal of Zoology 65 (1987):
106-12.
Http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z87-016. Web.

Randall, John E. Shore Fishes of Hawai'i. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 2010. Print.

Reavis, Robert H., and Joshua M. Copus. "Monogamy in a Feeding Generalist, Chaetodon
Trichrous, the
Endemic Tahitian Butterflyfish." Environmental Biology of Fishes 92.2 (2011): 167-79. ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.

Yabuta, Shinji. "Social Groupings in 18 Species of Butterflyfish and Pair Bond
Nonreproductive Season." Ichthyological Research
54.2 (2007): 207-10.

Yabuta, Shinji. "Signal Function of Tail-Up Posture in the Monogamous Butterflyfish (Chaetodon Lunulatus):
Dummy Experiments in the Field." Ichthyological
Research 55.3 (2008):
299-302. ProQuest. Web. 26
Mar. 2013.
Seals.
during the
Weakening
during the
ProQuest. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.