It grows to a maximum size of 12 cm (4.7 in) total length.[2] The body is powder blue in colour with a pattern of narrow, white chevron-shaped bars. The head and front of the body are coloured intense red-orange. The back of the dorsal fin and the caudal fin are black.
Ecology and behaviour
The hooded butterflyfish is found in seaward and lagooncoral reefs. They usually swim around in pairs and are territorial. Normally this species feeds exclusively on the polyps of the tubular Acropora corals.[7] However, given that it has been observed in the Mediterranean, where coral growth is limited, it may be able to adapt to a different diet.[5]
Phylogeny
The hooded butterflyfish is a far western sister species of the triangle butterflyfish (C. triangulum), which lives in the Indian Ocean, and C. baronessa, which inhabits the Indo-Pacific. Together these species form the subgenusGonochaetodon. If Chaetodon is split up as some researchers propose, this group might go into Megaprotodon with other high-backed and square-bodied species, but its exact relationships are still not well known.[8][9]
^Ali, M., Saad, A., Soliman, A., Rafrafi-Nouira, S., & Capape, C. (2017). Confirmed Occurrence in the Mediterranean Sea of the Red Sea Orange Face Butterflyfish Chaetodon larvatus (Osteichthyes: Chaetodontidae) and First Record from the Syrian Coast. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 58(3), 367-369.
^Allen, G. R. (1985): Butterfly and Angelfishes of the World. Vol. 2. 3rd ed. Mergus, Melle. p. 193
