Butterflyfish

The butterflyfish is one of the prettiest fish in the world. They are not big, the largest one is only 30 cm. They have only one dorsal fin, and have very small and thin mouth, so they can pick up food that in coral easily. However their teeth are strong. Butterflyfish have their own pattern and decided name by this pattern. There are so many kinds of butterflyfish. The butterflyfishes lay eggs and they always are in groups and move together. They can be found in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Anatomy
Butterflyfishes are pretty as much as called butterfly of Ocean. They are small, mostly no longer than 25 cm. However the largest one is called the lined butterflyfish, they grow to 30 cm. Butterflyfish have one dorsal fin, very small and thin mouth, and strong teeth that look like hair. Their body's height are high, and right and left are narrow. Most butterflyfish have fin of bone, where that in front of dorsal fin and has sharp mouth so they can easily eat food that in coral. They show bright color, mostly black and yellow. 

They decide their name about their own pattern. If they have a long nose, name will be longnose butterflyfish, if they have a clear band, name will be banded butterflyfish, and if they have a big black dot, name will be foureye butterflyfish because the black dot looks like eyes. 

Reproduction
Butterflyfish lay eggs. Most male butterflyfish and female butterflyfish pair up for life. Courtship between these two is prolonged and energetic. Sometime they will around each other, head to tail, like make circle. Female butterflyfish release 3000 to 4000 eggs at one time. Butterflyfishes lay eggs in the open ocean near the surface until the larvae hatch. The eggs are really small and pelagic. The larvae live in the plankton layer up to two months. 

Ecology
Young butterflyfish eats polychaete worms, coral polyps, crustaceans and mollusk eggs with it bristly teeth. When they grow up they aggregations of up to more than 2, then move together, because defend from large reef fishes. They are carnivores that eat small fishes, crustaceans, and coral. And if they found food that they can eat, they come in groups and eat it. And also they attack if the other fish invade their area. 

Habitat
Butterflyfishes are mostly found on the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Specially, the banded butterfly is western Atlantic Ocean species, can found in Massachusetts south to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. It is also can found in the eastern central Atlantic Ocean near St. Paul's Rocks. And they mostly live in at depths of 3 to 55 meters.