Vagabond butterflyfish

The vagabond butterflyfish gets its name from its wandering habits, drifting between reef flats, lagoons and exposed outer slopes. Its crossed diagonal lines have also earned it the nickname crisscross butterflyfish.

Also known as: criss-cross butterflyfish, vagabond butterflyfish, criss-cross butterfly-fish, vagabond coralfish, crisscross butterflyfish, criss-cross butterflyfish, butterflyfish, vagabond's butterflyfish, vagabond butterflyfish, vagabond butterfly-fish, criss-cross butterfly-fish

Several butterflyfish share a crisscross pattern. This species' dark band at the base of the tail stops short of the rear dorsal fin, rather than covering it. That is what separates it from similar-looking relatives.

This butterflyfish has a whitish body marked with two sets of thin dark diagonal lines that cross to form a chevron, or V-shaped, pattern. Thin orange lines cross its forehead. A wide black band runs through the eye, a second crosses the base of the tail, and a third sits in the middle of the tail fin. It grows to a maximum of 23 cm, though 15 cm is typical. Juveniles carry an extra black dot near the rear of the dorsal fin.

It lives on reef flats, in lagoons and on more exposed outer reef slopes across the Indo-Pacific. It can handle murky water near river mouths better than many reef fish.

• 

  Banded Butterflyfish

  Chaetodon striatus

• 

  Blackback butterflyfish

  Chaetodon melannotus

• 

  Butterflyfish

  butterfly_fish

• 

  Chevron butterflyfish

  Chaetodon trifascialis

• 

  Copperband butterflyfish

  Chelmon rostratus

• 

  Four-eyed Butterflyfish

  Chaetodon capistratus