The Wrought Iron Butterflyfish, Chaetodon daedalma, is a subtropical marine fish endemic to the reefs of Southern Japan and surrounding Izu, Ryukyu and Bonin (Ogasawara) islands. Adults shoal together in groups of 10 or more individuals (sometimes forming very large aggregations) in cool waters at a depth of 10-20 feet on outer reef areas. These fish have a striking metallic black coloration, with yellow tips on their dorsal, caudal and anal fin tips.C. daedalma graze on benthic algae and invertebrates, and grow to a maximum of 18 cm total length. Molecular phylogenetic work has tentatively put this species into the subgenus Lepidochaetodon, which includes eight of the 88 species in the genus Chaetodon. Despite its limited distribution, Wrought Iron Butterfly fish populations are stable; they are found in large numbers and present in marine protected areas (Ogasawara islands).This fish is found in the aquarium trade, however outside of Japan an individual Wrought Iron Butterflyfish can command an impressive price of several thousand dollars and is not easily available, so they are not commonly kept in captivity.
(Allen 1980; Rocha et al 2010; Sano 1989; Wikipedia 2013a, b)
