Banded Butterflyfish

Bold black bars break up the outline of the banded butterflyfish, a small reef fish common across the tropical western Atlantic. It reaches up to 16 cm long.

Several other butterflyfish share black vertical bars. Look for the bar at the rear: on this species it starts at the back of the dorsal fin and runs down onto the base of the tail, not just a single stripe on the body.

Its body is silvery, crossed by a slender black bar through the eye and two wide black bars across the middle of the body. A third wide bar starts at the back of the dorsal fin and runs down onto the base of the tail. Its pelvic and tail fins are black.

It lives on coral reefs in the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic, from the northeastern United States down through the Caribbean to Brazil. It is usually found between 5 and 20 m deep, though it can range down to 55 m.

It is usually seen alone or in pairs, though it sometimes gathers in small groups of up to 20 to feed on plankton drifting in the water. It also picks at coral polyps, worms, and small crustaceans on the reef.

It is listed as Least Concern. It is common with a wide range, and though it is sometimes collected for the aquarium trade, this is not thought to be hurting the overall population.

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  Blackback butterflyfish

  Chaetodon melannotus

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  Butterflyfish

  butterfly_fish

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  Chevron butterflyfish

  Chaetodon trifascialis

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  Copperband butterflyfish

  Chelmon rostratus

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  Four-eyed Butterflyfish

  Chaetodon capistratus

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  Longnose butterfly fish

  Forcipiger flavissimus