Chelmon rostratus

Beaked Coralfish | Banded Long-snout Butterflyfish | Copperband Butterflyfish | Longnosed Butterflyfish
Chelmon rostratus
Chelmon rostratus, adult, Great Keppel Is, Qld, Photo: Andrew Green
Chelmon rostratus
Chelmon rostratus, adult, Coral Sea, Australia, Photo: Ian Shaw
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Chelmon rostratus
Chelmon rostratus

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

Four parallel orange bands with ocellus on rear dorsal fin, black band on tail base. Longer tubular snout distinguishes it from C. muelleri which has similar, but less vibrant markings.


Information

Max Size: 20 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 20.2-31.4°C

Depth: 1-25m

Habitat Generalization Index: 11.65

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Least Concern

Occurrence: Frequent (17.4% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Few (2 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: RD Stuart-Smith, GJ Edgar, AJ Green, IV Shaw. 2015. Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland