Ornate Butterflyfish
Chaetodon ornatissimus
- Class
- Ray-finned fish
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 2,088
- Most observed in
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The ornate butterflyfish (Chaetodon ornatissimus), or clown butterflyfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish in the family Chaetodontidae. The ornate butterflyfish is a close relative of the mailed butterflyfish (C. reticulatus) and the scrawled butterflyfish (C. meyeri). Together they make up the subgenus called "Citharoedus", but as this name had already been used for the mollusk genus when it was given to the fish, it is not valid. They are probably quite close to the subgenus Corallochaetodon, which contains the Melon Butterflyfish (C. trifasciatus). Like these, they might be separated into Megaprotodon if the genus Chaetodon is split up.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ornate butterflyfish”.