Author: Steindachner, 1881
Chaetodon hoefleri Steindachner, 1881
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Chaetodon hoefleri Steindachner, 1881 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body subcircular, snout short. Vertical fins rounded. D XI + 21-24: A III + 16-18; V I + 5; P I + 14-16. Lateral line scales 39-45. Colour: head and body yellowish with copper reflections; four crossbars: the first, blackish, begins in front of the first dorsal spine, across the eye, reaching the inferoposterior part of the head; the second, dark brown, from the third to fifth dorsal spines, downward, crossing the posterior angle of operculum and pectoral root, down to the pelvic insertion; the third, dark brown, from the last dorsal spines downward, and slightly oblique, to the base of the anal fin (in its upper part this crossbar has a jet-black spot); the fourth, dark brown to blackish, is placed across the caudal peduncle; a black stripe from the inter-orbital space to the tip of snout, the rest of upper part of head and snout being orangc; on the body each scale with an orange longitudinal stripe; dorsal spines, soft dorsal, anal and pelvic fins yellowish to orange; soft dorsal and anal with a marginal white (sometimes light blue) stripe, bordered proximally with a black stripe; pectoral fins hyaline; caudal fin hyaline with an orange semilunar crossbar at its middle. Size: to 15 cm SL.
Habitat: inshore waters, close to bottom, from 20 to 100 m. Solitary or in pairs as adults, possibly gregarious when young. Food: bottom invertebrates. Reproduction: unknown.
Distribution: West African coasts from Angola northward to coast of Morocco. Occasionally in western half of Mediterranean.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Stinton, 1967: pl. 2 (fig. 12) | Schmidt, 1968: 41 (like those of Ch. Iuciae Rochebrune, ibidem., pl. 8 (fig. 108) and 20.