Reef butterflyfish
The mouth is equipped with long and thin teeth which are flattened, and a little recurved at their tips, These are used to scrape and nip at small invertebrates such as polychaetes, shrimps and amphipods.Spawning takes place at dusk following a lengthy and energetic courtship involving circling before swimming upwards and releasing the eggs and milt.The small, transparent, pelagic eggs hatch within 24 hours and initially the larval fish are tiny, translucent and silvery in colour.By the next day they have become juveniles and will hide in crevices until they are large enough to be reasonably secure from predators, emerging into shallow water next to channels or ledges.The reef butterflyfish has many predators, mostly larger fish such as snappers, groupers and moray eels, and it normally flees when attacked but if this is not possible they will adopt a defensive posture and face their pursuer with their head lowered and the spines in the dorsal fin fully raised.