A small orange-and-white butterflyfish with a long snout, on deeper reef and wall than the others and usually singly.
To about 10 cm. The long snout is the first thing to notice. The upper front of the body is yellow-orange turning dark brown on and under the spiny dorsal, with an angled yellow-brown bar through the eye, an orange bar running from the soft dorsal down across the tail base, and yellow pelvic and anal fins.
Against any of the region’s Chaetodon, the long snout plus the absence of both body bars and eyespots settles it.
One to about a hundred and eighty metres, and commonest between fifteen and fifty-five, on deep coral-rich reef, drop-offs and rocky ground. Solitary or in pairs, and it retreats into cover when approached, which is why it is harder to photograph than the shallower butterflyfish. It nibbles urchin tube feet and tubeworm tentacles.
It does not pick parasites off other fish, which is worth stating because several of its relatives do.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.