Chaetodon nigropunctatus, the black-spotted butterflyfish, is a species off marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish, belonging to the familyChaetodontidae. It is found in the north western Indian Ocean.
Chaetodon nigropunctatus has a whitish mouth set in a grey face, the colour of the body is greyish white and it is marked with many longitudinal rows of dark grey spots. The tail is black with a white margin.[4] The dorsal fin has 13 spines and 21-23 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 18-20 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 14 centimetres (5.5 in).[3]
Chaetodon nigropunctatus occurs at depths between 1 and 40 metres (3.3 and 131.2 ft),[1] inhabiting coral reefs where they occur in pairs. They are thought to feed mainly on coral polyps.[3] it occurs over reefs, either of coral or rock, and sometime in Sandy lagoon areas.[1]
Chaetodon nigropunctatus was first formally described in 1880 by the Frenchpaleontologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist Henri Émile Sauvage (1842-1917) with the type locality was given as Oman.[5] It belongs to the large subgenusRabdophorus which might warrant recognition as a distinct genus.[6]
Chaetodon nigropunctatus is rare in the aquarium trade.[1] However, it is a difficult species to keep in captivity due to its specialised diet of live coral polyps.[4]
^Fessler, Jennifer L.; Westneat, Mark W (2007). "Molecular phylogenetics of the butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae): Taxonomy and biogeography of a global coral reef fish family". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 45 (1): 50–68. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.05.018. PMID17625921.
