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Australian Wildlife

  Longnose Butterflyfish (Forcipiger longirostris)

FISH FACTS

Description
The Longnose Butterflyfish has yellow body with black spot on anal fin near the tail. The upper half of head and snout is black with black covering the whole eye The lower part of head and snout is silvery white. It has a longer snout than the similar Forcepsfish, F. flavissimus. The Forcepsfish has the black marking half way up the eye - not covering it like E. longirostris.

Other Names
Very-long-nose Butterflyfish

Size
to 22cm

Habitat
outer reef walls. Usually swim in pairs feeding around crevices in the coral

Food
small crustaceans, parts of echinoderms (starfish and the like), tentacles of bristle worms (polychaetes)

Range
coral reefs of the Indo-West and Central Pacific. In Australia it is found on the northern Great Barrier Reef.



Classification
Class:Actinopterygii
Order:Perciformes
Family:Chaetodontidae
Genus:Forcipiger
Species:longirostris
Common Name:Longnose Butterflyfish

Relatives in same Genus
  Forcepsfish (F. flavissimus)