Heniochus varius, the horned bannerfish or humphead bannerfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae, native from the central Indo-Pacific area.
The horned bannerfish is a small-sized fish that can reach a maximum length of 19 centimetres (7.5 in).[3] It has the typical deep-bodied and highly compressed body, typical of butterflyfishes.[4]
The horned bannerfish is told apart from its congeners by the adults having a pair of obvious horns on the forehead, just above the eyes and a prominent bump on the forehead.[2] The predominant colour on the body is brown to blackish broken by a thin white band behind the head and a second running from the spiny part of the dorsal fin to the caudal peduncle.[5] The two white stripes create a triangle of the base colour on the body.[6] The dorsal fin has 11 spines and 22-25 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 17-18 soft rays.[2]
The horned bannerfish is widespread throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the central Indo-Pacific from Indonesia to Polynesia and from south Japan to New-Caledonia.[1][3]
It inhabits areas rich in coral in shallow lagoons and external reef slopes from the surface to a depth of 30 meters.[7]
The horned bannerfish is a solitary fish but it can live in pairs or even in small groups.[8] Its diet is varied and consists of coral polyps and various benthic invertebrates.[3]
Heniochus varius was first formally described as Taurichthys varius in 1829 by the French anatomist Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) with the type locality given as Ambon Island in Indonesia.[9]
In some geographic areas, the horned bannerfish is occasionally harvested for the aquarium trade, however the species does not currently appear threatened is listed as Least Concern (LC) by the IUCN.[1]
Heniochus varius, the horned bannerfish or humphead bannerfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae, native from the central Indo-Pacific area.
