Teardrop butterflyfish
Encyclopedia
The Teardrop Butterflyfish, Chaetodon unimaculatus, is a species
of butterflyfish
(family
Chaetodontidae).
In the Indian Ocean
it is replaced by the Yellow Teardrop Butterflyfish
(C. interruptus), now considered to be a separate species
but previously included in C. unimaculatus as a subspecies
. In its subgenus
Lepidochaetodon – sometimes considered a separate genus
– it is only distantly related to species such as the Sunburst Butterflyfish
(C. kleinii) and the Tahiti Butterflyfish (C. trichrous).
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of butterflyfish
Butterflyfish
The butterflyfish are a group of conspicuous tropical marine fish of the family Chaetodontidae; the bannerfish and coralfish are also included in this group. Found mostly on the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, there are approximately 120 species in 10 genera...
(family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Chaetodontidae).
In the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
it is replaced by the Yellow Teardrop Butterflyfish
Yellow teardrop butterflyfish
-Range:The Yellow teardrop butterflyfish, Chaetodon interruptus, is a butterflyfish of the family Chaetodontidae found in the Indian ocean from East Africa , to Sumatra, Indonesia. Its length is up to 20 cm....
(C. interruptus), now considered to be a separate species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
but previously included in C. unimaculatus as a subspecies
Subspecies
Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
. In its subgenus
Subgenus
In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...
Lepidochaetodon – sometimes considered a separate genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
– it is only distantly related to species such as the Sunburst Butterflyfish
Sunburst butterflyfish
The Sunburst Butterflyfish is also known as the Black-lipped Butterflyfish or Klein's Butterflyfish. In the creoles of Mauritius and Réunion it is called papillon...
(C. kleinii) and the Tahiti Butterflyfish (C. trichrous).