Fishes - Australian Museum Fish Site

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Bennett's Butterflyfish
Chaetodon bennetti Cuvier, 1831

Bennett's Butterflyfish
A Bennett's Butterflyfish at a depth of 15m, Mana Island, Fiji, April 2001. View larger image.

Bennett's Butterflyfish can be recognised by its distinctive colouration. It is yellow with light blue bands curving across the lower sides of the body. A blue-edged black bar passes through the eye.

This species grows to 20cm in length. It eats coral polyps.

Bennett's Butterflyfish is found throughout much of the Indo-West Pacific. In Australia it is recorded from the offshore reefs of north-western Western Australia and from the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef.

View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.

Further reading

  1. Allen, G.R., Steene, R. & M. Allen. 1998. A Guide to Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes. Odyssey Publishing/Tropical Reef Research. Pp. 250.
  2. Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
  3. Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.
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