Common Name: Blue Spot Butterflyfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the West Pacific region, from the Andaman Sea to Fiji, north to Japan, south to northern Australia. In Australia recorded from Perth to north of Exmouth in Western Australia, the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, south to northern New South Wales and including Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands.

Ecological Notes: Frequents coral areas around islands and offshore reefs, where it feeds on polyps of Acropora sp. corals. Depth to at least 15 m.

Additional Notes: Yellow body and faint darker stripes with elongated central blue blotch and black spot on tail base. Form pairs during breeding and has been observed cleaning parasites from other fishes. Juvenile in lower photograph. Grows to 15 cm.

References: R. Stuart-Smith, G. Edgar, A. Green, I. Shaw, Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland Publishers, 2015. p.208.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Chaetodon+plebeius. Accessed 11/05/18.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://fishbase.ca/summary/Chaetodon-plebeius.html. Accessed 11/05/18.