Chaetodon leucopleura
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chaetodon leucopleura | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Acanthuriformes |
| Family: | Chaetodontidae |
| Genus: | Chaetodon |
| Subgenus: | Chaetodon (Rabdophorus) |
| Species: | C. leucopleura |
| Binomial name | |
| Chaetodon leucopleura Playfair, 1867 | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
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Chaetodon leucopleura, the Somali butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the northwestern Indian Ocean.
Chaetodon leucopleura has a laterally compressed and oval shaped body with a pointed snout as is typical for butterflyfish. The lower part of the body is white while the upper part being dark greyish black. They have a yellow curved line along the margin of the operculum and a black bar running through the eye. There are 5–6 thin, horizontal lines between the eyes and the upper lips are black. The fins are yellow.[3] The dorsal fin has 12 spines and 21–23 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 18–19 soft rays. This species attains a maximum standard length of 18 centimetres (7.1 in).[2]
Distribution
Chaetodon leucopleura is found in the northwestern Indian Ocean, it occurs in the along the East African coast from Sudan south to Zanzibar, the island of Socotra, the Seychelles south to Aldabra. In the southern Red Sea it is found around the Farasan Islands of Saudi Arabia and off Yemen.[1]