Pesce Farfalla Bandiera del Mar Rosso - Heniochus intermedius
Red Sea Banner Butterflyfish (Heniochus intermedius) is a bony marine fish belonging to the order Perciformes. It lives in the waters of the Red Sea and around East Africa and the Middle East. This fish is pale yellow below and white above, with two broad diagonal black bands, and can reach 20 cm in length.
Butterflyfishes are a large group of tropical marine fish in the Chaetodontidae family. Butterflyfish range in size from 12 to 22 cm in length. The largest species, the Lined Butterflyfish and the Saddleback Butterflyfish, grow up to 30 cm.
The common name refers to the vivid and strikingly patterned colors of many species, with shades of black, white, blue, red, orange, and yellow. Other species are dull in color. Many have round spots on their sides and dark bands over their eyes, as we often see on the colorful wings of many butterflies. Their broad, laterally narrow bodies are easily noticed in the coral reefs where they inhabit. The butterflyfish’s bright coloration may be used for interspecies communication. Butterflyfish have dorsal fins that are continuous with the caudal fins, which can be rounded or truncated, but are never forked.
They are generally diurnal and generally live no deeper than 20 meters (although some species reach depths of 180 meters). These fish are particularly territorial and usually form pairs. At night, butterflyfish hide in crevices of the reef and display a variety of coloration.
They are particularly beloved by aquarists for their coloration and elegance, although their breeding is often quite challenging; most species feed on coral polyps and sea anemones.
Butterflyfish are pelagic spawners; that is, they release numerous floating eggs into the water, which become part of the plankton, floating with the currents until they hatch. The fry go through a post-larval stage in which the fish’s body is covered with large bony plates extending from the head. These plates are shed during the fish’s maturation stage.
(extract from Wikipedia)
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