Common Name: Citron Butterflyfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Found throughout the Indo-Pacific region, from East Africa to the Hawaiian Islands, north to Japan and south to Australia. In Australia recorded from central Western Australia, across the tropical north to Queensland, south to New South Wales including Lord Howe Island.

Ecological Notes: Frequents shallow exposed reef flats, seaward reefs and lagoons and open areas with scattered corals. Depth to at least 36 m but usually 1 – 5 m.

Additional Notes: Uniform pale yellow or lemon colour with small bluish spots on body. Black edged anal fin has white submargin. May be solitary or in small groups, juveniles often mixing with other juvenile butterflyfishes, especially C. kleinii and C. guentheri. Omnivorous, feeding on coral polyps, worms, small invertebrates and filamentous algae. Form pairs during breeding. Grows to 13 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.202.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://fishbase.ca/summary/Chaetodon-citrinellus.html. Accessed 02/05/18.