Spotband butterflyfish
Amazing fact
The spotband butterflyfish’s bands become rows of spots on the lower part of its body.
Museums Victoria and OzFishNet
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The spotband butterflyfish’s bands become rows of spots on the lower part of its body.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Spotband butterflyfish
- Scientific name
- Chaetodon punctatofasciatus
- Japanese name
- シチセンチョウチョウウオ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Chaetodontiformes
- Family
- Chaetodontidae
- Genus
- Chaetodon
A fish found from Hachijojima, the Ryukyu Islands and the Ogasawara Islands to the eastern Indian Ocean and the central and western Pacific.
How the Spotband butterflyfish lives
It is commonly found in clear, coral-rich lagoons and seaward reefs. It eats thread-like algae, coral polyps and invertebrates living on the seabed. It is commonly seen in pairs.
Museums Victoria and OzFishNetCharles Darwin FoundationBasic data
- Range
- Ryukyu Islands, Ogasawara Islands, eastern Indian Ocean to central and western Pacific, and elsewhere
Where the Spotband butterflyfish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- シチセンチョウチョウウオ
- 简体中文
- 点斑横带蝴蝶鱼
- 繁體中文
- 點斑橫帶蝴蝶魚
- Deutsch
- Punktstreifen-Falterfisch
- Português (Brasil)
- Peixe-borboleta-listrado-pintado
- Italiano
- Pesce farfalla puntato fasciato
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Kepe-kepe fantasi
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — シチセンチョウチョウウオChecked: 2026-11-04
- Museums Victoria and OzFishNet — Spotbanded Butterflyfish, Chaetodon punctatofasciatusChecked: 2026-11-07
- Charles Darwin Foundation — Chaetodon punctatofasciatusChecked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Chaetodontidae
MORE TO MEET
