A black eye patch on a pale face; the common butterflyfish of Philippine slopes.
To about 20 cm, pale cream-white with fine dark diagonal lines over the flanks, yellow fins and a broad black patch around the eye that gives the fish its name. It is a western Pacific species centred on the Philippines and Indonesia and is one of the few butterflyfishes here more likely to be seen at the Philippine destinations than elsewhere.
It feeds on coral polyps and small invertebrates, usually in pairs, and is unusual in the family for being active at night as well as by day. It is tolerant of divers and will keep feeding at two metres. Recorded from about 3 to 30 m.
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.