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Chaetodon quadrimaculatus

No common name
Collection Details

Specimens

Photos

There are no photos available for this taxon yet.

Records

Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri) Chaetodontidae (Butterflyfishes) Chaetodon Chaetodon quadrimaculatus

Description

This species account was compiled from FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Characters

Body shape: short and / or deep. Striking features: striking type of mouth.

Distribution

Pacific Ocean: Ryukyus, Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands and Taiwan to the Hawaiian, Marquesan, and Pitcairn islands, south to the Samoan and Austral Islands; Marianas and Marshalls in Micronesia.

Habitat Associations

Marine. reef-associated. depth range 0-43 m. Found in: coral reefs.

Biology

Found almost exclusively on exposed seaward reefs (Ref. 205). Benthopelagic (Ref. 58302). Feed mainly on polyps of Pocillopora. Solitary or in pairs. Oviparous (Ref. 205), monogamous (Ref. 52884). Form pairs during breeding (Ref. 205).
Max length: 16.0 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; mating system: monogamy; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Distinct pairing (Ref. 205). Monogamous mating is observed as obligate, genetic and social (Ref. 52884).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2009-10-09. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Fisheries: commercial; aquarium: commercial.

References

Thresher, R.E. (1984) Reproduction in reef fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Inc. Ltd., Neptune City, New Jersey. 399 p.
Myers, R.F. (1991) Micronesian reef fishes. Second Ed. Coral Graphics, Barrigada, Guam. 298 p.
Randall, J.E. (1985) Guide to Hawaiian reef fishes. Harrowood Books, Newtown Square, PA 19073, USA. 74 p.
Burgess, W.E. (1978) Butterflyfishes of the world. A monograph of the Family Chaetodontidae. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Hobson, E.S. (1974) Feeding relationships of teleostean fishes on coral reefs in Kona, Hawaii. Fish. Bull. 72(4):915-1031.
Whiteman, E.A. and I.M. Côté (2004) Monogamy in marine fishes. Biol. Rev. 79:351-375.
Bacchet, P., T. Zysman and Y. Lefèvre (2006) Guide des poissons de Tahiti et ses îles. Tahiti (Polynésie Francaise): Éditions Au Vent des Îles. 608 p.

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