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Oval-spot Butterflyfish
Chaetodon speculum Cuvier, 1831
An Oval-spot Butterflyfish at a depth of 10m, Cormorant Pass, off Lizard Island, far northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, November 2001. View larger image.
An Oval-spot Butterflyfish at a depth of 15m, Raine Island, far northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, November 2001. View larger image.
The Oval-spot Butterflyfish is yellow with a large black mark on the upper side of the body. It has a black bar through the eye and a translucent caudal fin margin.
This species grows to 18cm in length. It eats coral polyps and small benthic invertebrates.
The Oval-spot Butterflyfish is found on coral reefs of the eastern Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. It is found widely throughout tropical marine waters of Australia with the exception of parts of the Arafura Sea and Gulf of Carpentaria.
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.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.
