Threadfin butterflyfish
Amazing fact
The threadfin butterflyfish scrapes coral surfaces with its long snout to eat algae and small prey.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The threadfin butterflyfish scrapes coral surfaces with its long snout to eat algae and small prey.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Threadfin butterflyfish
- Scientific name
- Chaetodon auriga
- Japanese name
- トゲチョウチョウウオ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Chaetodontiformes
- Family
- Chaetodontidae
- Genus
- Chaetodon
A fish found from the seas of southern Japan across a wide area of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as far as the Galápagos Islands.
How the Threadfin butterflyfish lives
It is active during the day. It pokes its tube-shaped snout into coral holes and crevices to find prey. It is seen in pairs, but sometimes feeds in large groups. It usually lives where coral is abundant, but is sometimes found where coral is sparse.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Range
- Ogasawara Islands, Ryukyu Islands, Indo-Pacific, Galapagos Islands, and elsewhere
Where the Threadfin 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
- トゲチョウチョウウオ
- 简体中文
- 丝蝴蝶鱼
- 繁體中文
- 揚旛蝴蝶魚
- 한국어
- 가시나비고기
- Español
- Pez mariposa auriga
- Français
- Papillon jaune
- Deutsch
- Fähnchen-Falterfisch
- Português (Brasil)
- Threadfin butterflyfish
- Italiano
- Pesce farfalla filamentoso
- العربية
- سمك الفراشة خيطي الزعنفة
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Kepe-kepe auriga
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá chim nàng đào đỏ
- Русский
- Клинополосая Рыба-бабочка
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 — トゲチョウチョウウオChecked: 2026-11-04
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Chaetodon aurigaChecked: 2026-11-06
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.
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Others in Chaetodontidae
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