Chaetodon ephippium

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	ACTINOPTERYGII	PERCIFORMES	CHAETODONTIDAE

Scientific Name:

Chaetodon ephippium

Species Authority:

Cuvier, 1831

Common Name/s:

English

–

Blackblotch Butterflyfish, Saddle-back Butterflyfish, Saddleback Butterflyfish, Saddle Butterflyfish, Saddle Butterflyfish, Saddled Butterflyfish, Saddled Coralfish

Synonym/s:

Chaetodon garnoti Lesson, 1831

Chaetodon mulsanti Thiollière, 1857

Chaetodon principalis Cuvier, 1829

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:	Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:	2010
Assessor/s:	Myers, R. & Pratchett, M.
Reviewer/s:	Elfes, C., Polidoro, B., Livingstone, S. & Carpenter, K.E.
Contributor/s:
Justification: This species is abundant and widespread. There are no major threats for this species. It is listed as Least Concern.

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	This species is distributed from the Indo-Malayan region throughout the tropical insular Pacific Ocean (Pyle 2001). It has been recorded from Sri Lanka (most likely a vagrant) in the west as far east as the Hawaiian Islands (USA), Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia) and Tuamotu Islands (French Polynesia), and from southern Japan in the north south to New South Wales (Australia) and Rapa (G.R. Allen pers. comm. 2006). It has been recorded at depths of 1-30 m. Range size ~10.3 million km², from values estimated by Jones et al. (2002) based on projection of distribution maps from Allen et al. (1998).
Countries:	Native: American Samoa (American Samoa); Australia; China; Christmas Island; Cocos (Keeling) Islands; Cook Islands; Fiji; French Polynesia; Guam; Indonesia; Japan; Kiribati (Phoenix Is.); Malaysia; Marshall Islands; Micronesia, Federated States of; Nauru; New Caledonia; Niue; Northern Mariana Islands; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Samoa; Solomon Islands; Sri Lanka; Taiwan, Province of China; Tokelau; Tonga; Tuvalu; United States (Hawaiian Is.); United States Minor Outlying Islands (Howland-Baker Is., Johnston I., US Line Is., Wake Is.); Vanuatu; Wallis and Futuna
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Indian Ocean – eastern; Pacific – eastern central; Pacific – northwest; Pacific – southwest; Pacific – western central
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	It is generally common (mean of 0.46 individuals per 200 m² in northern Great Barrier Reef; Pratchett and Berumen 2008). There have not been any recorded changes in abundance, even in coral reef habitats with extensive coral loss (Berumen and Pratchett 2006). The global population is most likely stable.
Population Trend:	Stable

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	Populations inhabit a wide variety of coral reef habitats, being frequently found in areas of rich coral growth in lagoons and on outer reefs. It occurs as solitary animals, in pairs or in small groups. The diet includes coral polyps, algae, sponges, fish eggs and benthic invertebrates (G.R. Allen pers. comm. 2006). This species lives exclusively within coral reef habitats, but has limited direct reliance on live corals (Pratchett 2005).
Systems:	Marine

Habitat and Ecology:

Populations inhabit a wide variety of coral reef habitats, being frequently found in areas of rich coral growth in lagoons and on outer reefs. It occurs as solitary animals, in pairs or in small groups. The diet includes coral polyps, algae, sponges, fish eggs and benthic invertebrates (G.R. Allen pers. comm. 2006). This species lives exclusively within coral reef habitats, but has limited direct reliance on live corals (Pratchett 2005).

Systems:

Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	This species is collected for the aquarium trade however there is no data on how this affects the population. There appear to be no other major threats to this species.

Major Threat(s):

This species is collected for the aquarium trade however there is no data on how this affects the population. There appear to be no other major threats to this species.

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	There appear to be no species specific conservation measures in place (G.R. Allen pers. comm. 2006). In view of its wide range this species is likely to be present within many marine protected areas. Ongoing monitoring of catches by aquarium collectors is required.

Conservation Actions:

There appear to be no species specific conservation measures in place (G.R. Allen pers. comm. 2006). In view of its wide range this species is likely to be present within many marine protected areas. Ongoing monitoring of catches by aquarium collectors is required.

Citation:	Myers, R. & Pratchett, M. 2010. Chaetodon ephippium. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 25 May 2013.
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