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Ocellate Butterflyfish
Parachaetodon ocellatus (Cuvier, 1831)
An Ocellate Butterflyfish at a depth of 5 m, Galgabba Point, Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, April 2006. Photo © M. Lowry.
The Ocellate Butterflyfish has a triangular dorsal fin that is mostly yellow. The fish has a white ground colour with five brown to orange bands. The first band, which passes through the eye is orange with black edges. The band that runs below the middle of the dorsal fin has a dark spot dorsally. There is an oval-shaped mark with a silver anterior margin on the caudal peduncle.
The species grows to about 18 cm in length.
It is found on coral reefs and in bays and estuaries often associated with seagrass beds.
The Ocellate Butterflyfish occurs in marine waters of the tropical eastern Indian Ocean to the western Pacific. In Australia it is known from south-western Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country and south on the east coast to the central coast of New South Wales.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
The Ocellate Butterflyfish is the only species in the genus Parachaetodon.
Related links
- View the Butterflyfishes list
- View the family Chaetodontidae list
Further reading
- Allen, G.R., Steene, R. & M. Allen. 1998. A Guide to Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes. Odyssey Publishing/Tropical Reef Research. Pp. 250.
- Kuiter, R.H. 2002. Butterflyfishes. Bannerfishes and their relatives. A Comprehensive Guide to Chaetodontidae & Microcanthidae. TMC Publishing. Pp. 208.
- Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.
