The chevron butterflyfish, Chaetodon trifascialis, is among the most specialised coral-feeding fish, and while it is known to be very susceptible to extensive depletion of its preferred coral prey (tabular Acropora spp.), their specific responses to changing coral cover are poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to test for variation in territorial behaviour and condition of C. trifascialis relative to spatial variation in coral cover across four mid-shelf reefs on the Great Barrier Reef. Explicit consideration was also given to the territorial arrangement and interactions among sympatric individuals, with a view to better understanding the sociality of this species. Variation in overall coral cover (which ranged from 26.5–73.4% among sites) as well as cover of tabular Acropora (13.3–44.8%) had limited effect on the territoriality or body condition of C. trifascialis. Rather, individual variation in territoriality was attributable to differences in gender and size of fish. Male C. trifascialis were generally larger and also had larger territories than female counterparts. They also interacted with conspecifics (and congenerics) much more than females. Taken together, these results support previous assertions that C. trifascialis is haremic. There was, however, limited evidence of male territories encompassing the territories of >1 female. While the sociality of C. trifascialis is clearly atypical of Chaetodon butterflyfishes, more work is needed to understand their reproductive biology as well as their behavioural responses to changing coral cover.

人字形蝴蝶鱼Chaetodon trifascialis是最专业的以珊瑚为食的鱼，虽然众所周知，它很容易广泛地消耗其首选的珊瑚猎物（板状Ac形目），但它们对改变珊瑚覆盖率的具体反应却很差了解。这项研究的目的是测试在领土的行为和条件的变化C. trifascialis相对于大堡礁上四个中层礁的珊瑚覆盖的空间变化。还明确考虑了同胞个人之间的领土安排和互动，以期更好地了解该物种的社会性。变异整体珊瑚盖（其从站点之间26.5-73.4％之间），以及平板状的盖鹿角（13.3-44.8％）对的属地或身体状况的影响有限C. trifascialis。相反，领土上的个体差异是由于鱼类的性别和大小的差异。雄性黑顶线虫通常比女性更大，领土也更大。他们与雌性（和同类动物）的相互作用比雌性还要多。总之，这些结果支持先前的断言C. trifascialis是haremic。但是，仅有很少的证据表明男性领土涵盖了> 1个女性领土。尽管黑线C. trifascialis的社会性显然不是Chaetodon蝴蝶鱼的非典型，但还需要做更多的工作来了解它们的生殖生物学以及它们对变化的珊瑚覆盖的行为反应。