Chaetodon zanzibarensis

It has a wide distribution throughout the western Indian Ocean stretching from the eastern coast of Africa to Madagascar, the Seychelles, Réunion and Mauritius.Its range includes the Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Réunion, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Yemen.[1] Chaetodon zanzibarensis is a specialist feeder that consumes the polyps of scleractinian corals, particularly Acropora species.[4] A study in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean found that on coral-rich reefs, corallivores such as Chaetodon zanzibarensis dominated assemblies of butterflyfish.Despite being more vulnerable to habitat destruction and loss of the corals on which they depend, these fish seem better able to cope with minor disturbances than non-specialist feeders.
Conservation statusLeast ConcernIUCN 3.1Scientific classificationEukaryotaAnimaliaChordataActinopterygiiAcanthuriformesChaetodontidaeChaetodonChaetodon (Tetrachaetodon)Binomial namePlayfairray-finned fishbutterflyfishfamilyIndian OceanTanzanianZanzibardorsal finChagos ArchipelagoComorosMadagascarMauritiusMayotteMozambiqueRéunionSeychellesSomaliaSouth AfricaTanzaniapolypsscleractinian coralsAcroporatentaclesfeather duster wormsChristmas tree wormshabitat destructionclimate changeInternational Union for Conservation of NatureIUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesWikidataFishBaseiNaturalistOpen Tree of Life