SpinyheadPlay freeBanded butterflyfish Chaetodon striatus
The banded butterflyfish is a small, disc-shaped reef fish of the western Atlantic, easy to recognize by its white body crossed by dark vertical bars. It is usually seen alone or in pairs, picking at the reef with its small, pointed snout. Pairs often stay together for long periods and may be territorial toward other butterflyfishes. Like other butterflyfishes, it is laterally compressed, which lets it slip into crevices and move easily among corals and rocks.
How to recognize it
- white body with black vertical bands
- two or three broad dark bars on the body
- dark bar through the eye
- black band near the tail base
- dark band on the rear dorsal and anal fins
- small pointed snout
- rounded, deep, flattened body
- yellowish to clear fins
| Size | Typically about 10 to 15 cm; maximum about 15 to 16 cm total length. |
|---|---|
| Range | Western Atlantic, from Nova Scotia (rare strays) and the northern United States south through Florida, the Bahamas, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean to northern South America and Brazil. Common in the Caribbean. |
| Habitat | Coral reefs, rocky areas and reef flats, often near ledges and crevices. Found from shallow water to roughly 30 m or deeper, and is most often seen on shallow to moderate-depth reefs. |
| Diet | Feeds on small bottom-dwelling invertebrates such as polychaete worms, small crustaceans, and the tentacles of tube worms, plus some coral polyps, anemones, and algae. It picks food from the reef surface with its fine snout, and it may take zooplankton from above the reef. |
| Conservation | Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. It is widespread and common, though it can be collected for the aquarium trade and, like many reef fishes, is affected by coral reef decline and habitat loss. |
Life and behavior
Adults are often seen alone or in pairs, and pairs may stay together for long periods. Individuals tend to occupy a home range on the reef and move into crevices at night. Like most butterflyfishes, it is thought to spawn in open water, releasing eggs and sperm that drift as plankton. The larvae go through a distinctive, bony-plated tholichthys stage typical of butterflyfishes before settling on the reef. Juveniles often settle in shallow, sheltered areas before moving to deeper reef habitat as they grow.
Its family: Butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae)
Butterflyfishes are small to medium reef fishes with deep, strongly compressed bodies and small mouths set at the end of a pointed snout. Many have bold color patterns and a dark stripe through the eye that helps disguise it. Most are active during the day and feed on small invertebrates, coral polyps, or plankton, and many live in pairs. They are found in tropical and subtropical seas worldwide, with greatest diversity in the Indo-Pacific.
Similar species
- Spotfin butterflyfish Chaetodon ocellatus Mostly white to pale yellow with no dark vertical bars across the body; it has a dark eye bar and a dark spot on the dorsal fin in juveniles, and yellow fins.
- Foureye butterflyfish Chaetodon capistratus Has a prominent dark eye-like spot near the tail on each side and a pattern of fine diagonal lines, not broad vertical bars.
- Reef butterflyfish Chaetodon sedentarius Yellowish body with a dark band behind the head and a dark bar through the eye, and a dark spot near the tail base; lacks the striking white-and-black banded pattern. Typically found deeper.
