Forcipiger Explained

Forcipiger is a genus of fish in the family Chaetodontidae, the butterflyfishes. It is distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region. The name of this genus means “bearing forceps” and is a reference to the long, slender snouts of the species in this genus.^[1]

Species

There are currently three recognized species in this genus:

• Forcipiger flavissimus D. S. Jordan & E. A. McGregor, 1898  - yellow longnose butterflyfish
• Forcipiger longirostris (Broussonet, 1782)  - longnose butterflyfish
• Forcipiger wanai G. R. Allen, Erdmann & Sbrocco, 2012^[2]

Some authorities recognise a fourth species, F. cyrano, but this taxon is not treated as valid by Fishbase.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Order ACANTHURIFORMES (part 1): Families LOBOTIDAE, POMACANTHIDAE, DREPANEIDAE and CHAETODONTIDAE . The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database . 22 November 2020 . 21 July 2020 . Christopher Scharpf . Kenneth J. Lazara . amp . Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara.
2. Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. (2012): Reef Fishes of the East Indies. Volumes I-III. Tropical Reef Research, Perth, Australia. 1292pp. University of Hawai'i Press.