Find a Fish
Eight-banded Butterflyfish
Chaetodon octofasciatus Bloch, 1787
An Eight-banded Butterflyfish at a depth of 5m Redang Island, Malaysia, April 2001. View larger image.
An Eight-banded Butterflyfish at a depth of 12m Redang Island, Malaysia, April 2001. View larger image.
An Eight-banded Butterflyfish photographed at night, at a depth of 10m, Garove Island, Papua New Guinea, April 2003. View larger image.
The Eight-banded Butterflyfish has a yellow to white body with eight black bands. It has a black stripe along the top of the snout and a clear caudal fin margin.
This species grows to 12cm in length.
It eats coral polyps.
The Eight-banded Butterflyfish is found in tropical marine waters of the Indo-West Pacific.
In Australia it is known only from offshore islands of north-western Western Australia.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Allen, G.R., Steene, R. & M. Allen. 1998. A Guide to Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes. Odyssey Publishing/Tropical Reef Research. Pp. 250.
- Allen, G.R. 1993. Reef Fishes of New Guinea. A Field Guide for Divers, Anglers and Naturalists. Christensen Research Institute. No. 8. Pp. 132.
- Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. Coral Graphics. Pp. 330.
