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Species Details

Details of Threadfin butterflyfish will be displayed below

Threadfin butterfl...   

Common Name: Threadfin butterflyfish
Scientific Name: Chaetodon auriga
Local Name: Naruvaa bibee
Dhivehi Name: ނަރުވާ ބިބީ
Animalia  (Kingdom)
Chordata  (Plylum)
Actinopterygii  (Class)
Perciformes  (Order)
Chaetodontidae  (Family)
Chaetodon   (Genus)

Threadfin butterflyfish's description

Chaetodon auriga is up to 23 centimetres (9 in) long. Its body is white with `chevron' markings on the side. Tear edge of the dorsal fin has a prominent black spot, and a prominent black vertical band runs through the eye. The rear of soft-dorsal fin has a trailing filament, and it has a belly patch of descending oblique dark lines as well as bright yellow fins. Two subspecies are sometimes recognised: Chaetodon auriga auriga occurs in the Red Sea population and lacks the dorsal eyespot; Chaetodon auriga setifer is the spotted population occurring outside the Red Sea.

Threadfin butterflyfish's Behavior & Ecology

May be seen in a variety of habitats ranging from rich coral reefs to weedy and rubble covered areas.

Threadfin butterflyfish's Feeding

Maybe found singly, in pairs, and in aggregations that roam over large distances in search of food. Feed mainly by tearing pieces from polychaetes, sea anemones, coral polyps, and algae. Oviparous.

Threadfin butterflyfish's Reproduction

Form pairs during breeding.

Threadfin butterflyfish habitat

This species inhabits a wide variety of coral reef habitat, and can be encountered in coastal, lagoonal, and outer reefs (G.R. Allen pers. comm. 2006). It feeds mainly by tearing pieces from polychaetes, sea anemones, coral polyps, and algae (Myers 1991). It may be found singly, in pairs and in aggregations. This species only very rarely consumes coral on the Great Barrier Reef (Pratchett 2005), but consumes mainly live corals in the Indian Ocean (Graham et al. 2006). It declined significantly in Moorea between 1979 and 2003, following shifts in coral community structure (Berumen and Pratchett 2006).

Threadfin butterflyfish threats

While declines in abundance of C. auriga have been observed following localized coral loss, it is unknown why this species should have any reliance on live corals. It neither feeds or recruits on live coral (Pratchett et al. 2008). This species is collected for the aquarium trade however there is no data on how this affects the population. This species is harvested by artisanal fishers, accounting for 72% of the butterflyfishes caught (Mangi and Roberts 2006).

Threadfin butterflyfish's status

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