Speckled butterflyfish

The speckled butterflyfish is a small, disc-shaped reef fish of the Indo-Pacific, reaching about 13 cm. It is found from the Red Sea and East Africa across to the central Pacific islands, north to southern Japan and south to Australia. It is a shallow-water fish: most sightings are between 1 and 5 m, although it has been recorded down to 36 m. It picks at small worms, small bottom-living invertebrates, coral polyps and fine hair-like algae. Adults usually swim in pairs; young fish gather in small groups.

Also known as: citron butterflyfish, citron coralfish, lemon butterflyfish, speckled butterflyfish, speckled butterflyfish, lemon butterflyfish, citron butterflyfish, speckled butterfly-fish, citron coralfish

Two fixed marks do the work at viewing distance: the black bar through the eye, and the sharp black border along the anal fin on the underside. Between them the body reads as a pale, finely speckled yellow disc with no bold bands or blotches. Many butterflyfish have an eye bar, so check the dark edge on the underside fin before you decide.

The body is pale yellow and covered with many small dark spots, which give the fish its name. A black bar runs over the head, crossing the eye above and below it. The anal fin, the fin on the underside just before the tail, has a clean black edge. The body is a rounded disc, deeper than it is long in profile, with a short snout.

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  Banded Butterflyfish

  Chaetodon striatus

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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