Chaetodon unimaculatus

Chaetodontidae
Teardrop Butterflyfish
  • Chaetodon unimaculatus, Adult. Photo: Rick Stuart-Smith
    Chaetodon unimaculatus, Adult. Photo: Rick Stuart-Smith
  • Chaetodon unimaculatus, Naigani Is, Fiji, Photo: Andrew Green
    Chaetodon unimaculatus, Naigani Is, Fiji, Photo: Andrew Green
  • Chaetodon unimaculatus, Adult, NSW, Australia, Photo: Ian Shaw
    Chaetodon unimaculatus, Adult, NSW, Australia, Photo: Ian Shaw
Distribution
Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Pearly white fore-body with a teardrop-shaped black blotch in middle of yellow back; yellow dorsal, anal and ventral fins; black bands run through eye and down rear margin of dorsal and anal fins across tail base. C. interruptus, an Indian Ocean species not known from Australia, has yellow all over body.
Information
  • Max Size: 20 cm
  • Sea Temperature Range: 19.8-30.7°C
  • Depth: 1-60m
  • Habitat: Coral Reef
  • Habitat Generalisation Index: 13.6
    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
Rarity
  • Threats: Exploitation
  • IUCN Threat Status: Least Concern
  • Occurrence: Frequent (15% 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
Report an Error
Further Information:
Copyright:
Copyright to the photographs on this site belongs solely to the credited photographers. Any requests for usage can be directed to the photographer through [email protected].

Please use this form only for a single type of error. If you see multiple errors on the page for this species, please report these in separate forms by clicking on this button again after submitting this form


Thank you for highlighting this error. We appreciate your assistance in maintaining high quality control standards

Copyright Reef Life Survey 2019
Made by Forte Web Design
Forte Web Design support RLS
Supported by The Ian Potter Foundation