Genicanthus caudovittatus
Species of fish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Genicanthus caudovittatus, the zebra angelfish, swallowtail angelfish, and lyretail angelfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a marine angelfish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae.[3] It is found in the Indian Ocean.
| Genicanthus caudovittatus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Male | |
 | |
| Female | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Acanthuriformes |
| Family: | Pomacanthidae |
| Genus: | Genicanthus |
| Species: | G. caudovittatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Genicanthus caudovittatus (Günther, 1860) | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
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Description
Genicanthus caudovittatus shows sexual dichromatism, the males and females have differing colouration. The males are whitish-blue marked with vertical dark brown barring and a black band running along the middle of the dorsal fin base. The females are pale pinkish grey with a black band over the eye and a black band on the upper and lower margins of the caudal fin. Both sexes have a markedly forked caudal fin.[4] The dorsal fin contains 15 spines and 15–17 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 17–19 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 20 centimetres (7.9 in).[2]
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Distribution
Genicanthus caudovittatus is distributed in western Indian Ocean where it occurs along the eastern coast of Africa from the Red Sea in the north to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, east to Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, and Réunion. It has also been recorded from Weh Island off northwestern Sumatra.[1]
Habitat and biology
Genicanthus caudovittatus is found at depths between 15 and 70 metres (49 and 230 ft).[1] In the Red Sea it can be found in shallower water than in the Andaman Sea.[2] It can be found on steep outer reef slopes where it lives in small groups made up of a male and a few females. It feeds on plankton.[1] Juveniles live at greater depth than the adults.[5]
Systematics
Genicanthus caudovittatus was first formally described in 1860 as Holocanthus caudovittatus by the German-born British ichthyologist and herpetologist Albert Günther (1830–1914) with the type locality given as Mauritius.[6] The specific name is a compound of caudus meaning "tail" and vittatus meaning "banded", referring to the black markings on the tail.[7]
