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Sunburst butterflyfish
Chaetodon kleinii
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Sunburst butterflyfish
- Scientific
- Chaetodon kleinii
- Dhivehi
- އަލަނާސި ބިބީAlanaasi bibee
- Group
- Reef fish
- Maximum size
- Up to about 15 cm (total length)
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 0 to 90 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2009
Description
A small yellowish-brown butterflyfish with two broad pale bars on the body, a black bar through the eye and rows of faint spots, often with a blue-tinged snout. It lives in deeper lagoons, channels and seaward reefs, usually below 10 m, singly or in pairs. Unusually for a butterflyfish, it feeds on soft-coral polyps, algae and zooplankton.
In the Maldives
Dhivehi Wikipedia (MRS-derived) gives alanaasi bibee.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Chaetodon-kleinii.html
- fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=5446&GenusName=Chaetodon&SpeciesName=
- dv.wikipedia.org /wiki/އަލަނާސި_ބިބީ
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Pez_mariposa_de_Klein_(Chaetodon_kleinii),_Anilao,_Filipina
Dhivehi name source: FishBase common names (country: Maldives) give 'Alanaasi bibee' (Latin script). Thaana from the Dhivehi Wikipedia article 'އަލަނާސި ބިބީ' (derived from the MRS 1997 Dhivehi edition); it matches the Latin form.