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Forcipiger longirostris

Taputapu

Big Longnose Butterflyfish

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult yellow and dark phases (Rarotonga)	31KB
Image:	Full dark phase (Rarotonga)	35KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Big Longnose Butterflyfish, Long-nosed Butterflyfish, Black Long-nosed Butterflyfish; German Laugmaul-Pinzettfisch; French Poisson-pincette à Long Bec

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Taputapu (RR AT MT AK), Tītī (TS TW)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Pitcairn, Hawai‘i

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; PLUS: S.Group and N.Group.; Marine, near-shore, seaward reef-slope, lagoon; Mainly on seaward reef-slopes to 60m, where it feeds mainly on small crustaceans.

KEY FEATURES: To 18cm SL. A yellow fish, upper half of the head black, ± white forehead, and lower half of head white, extending uniformly back onto the chest. Snout length 1.5x distance from base of snout to hind edge of eye, and snout is not distinctly open at the tip. This species is sometimes uniformly brown.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Forcipiger flavissimus differs in: no spots on the chest; the snout equal to the distance between the base of the snout and the hind edge of the eye; a permanently open mouth-tip; and 12-13 dorsal spines.

Enlarged Image of 'Forcipiger longirostris'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P						P

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			P		P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Forcipiger longirostris (Broussonet, 1782)
SYNONYMS: Chaetodon longirostris [O]

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Perciformes; Percoidei; Percoidea; CHAETODONTIDAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: sightings, black morph, (Sims88). Palmerston: Listed (Preston95). Manihiki: sightings, black morph (Sims88). Pukapuka: Photo (black morph) N.Sims (Sims88); fieldspecimen+photo, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as light-morph Forcipiger longirostris. Suwarrow: field ID N.Sims (Sims EIA99); sightings, black morph, (Sims88).

References:
text p.157 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
plate 67c Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.232 Randall et al. (1990) Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef....
p.351 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 65-02 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
plate 58-11 Allen (1997) Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia....
Species No. 671 Munro (1967) Fishes of New Guinea

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM06a, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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