Yellow with a black mask over the eyes and forehead, in pairs on Red Sea reef. A Red Sea and Gulf of Aden species.
To about 22 cm, yellow with a black mask over the eyes and forehead and fine diagonal lines across the body, and a black patch at the rear of the dorsal fin. It is a Red Sea and Gulf of Aden species. The bluecheek butterflyfish shares the ground and is separated by having no black on the top of the head.
It moves in pairs that stay together, feeding on coral polyps and small invertebrates, and it is common enough on Red Sea reef to be seen on most dives. As with the rest of the family the pair is the useful thing to look for: they feed a body length apart and turn together, so a single fish usually means the other is behind the coral head rather than that the fish is alone.
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.