Lined butterflyfish

Chaetodon lineolatus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth4–36 m
Water temperature24–30 °C
Best monthsAugust, September, and October
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Susan Prior, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Susan Prior · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

The lined butterflyfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish. a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae, one of the largest species in the genus Chaetodon. It has a wide range from the Red Sea to South Africa and as far east as southern Japan and Hawaii.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Lined butterflyfish”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 153 records
February: 124 records
March: 167 records
April: 162 records
May: 148 records
June: 157 records
July: 173 records
August: 190 records
September: 211 records
October: 245 records
November: 160 records
December: 154 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–36 m · Deepest record: 747 m

0–10 m: 170 records
10–20 m: 47 records
20–30 m: 34 records
30–40 m: 22 records
40–50 m: 12 records
50–60 m: 4 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 4 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–30 °C

22–24 °C: 4 records
24–26 °C: 21 records
26–28 °C: 57 records
28–30 °C: 53 records

Photos

(c) Sockrosma, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Donald Davesne, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jake Nitta, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Lined butterflyfish, Line Butterflyfish, Lined Butterfly, lined butterflyfish, Lined Butterfly-fish, Lined Butterflyfish, New-moon Coral-fish, New-moon Coralfish

Names in 7 more languages

German: Riesen-Falterfisch
Spanish: Pez mariposa rayado
French: Chaetodon strié, Chétodon strié, Papillon à lignes, Papillon jaune, Poisson-papillon à lignes
Japanese: Nisefuraichochouo, Nise-furai-chô-chô-uo, ニセフウライチョウチョウウオ
Korean: 줄나비고기
Thai: ปลาผีเสื้อลายตรง
Simplified Chinese: 新月蝶, 紋身蝴蝶魚, 細紋蝴蝶魚, 细纹蝴蝶鱼, 黑影蝶

Other scientific names: Anisochaetodon lineolatus, Chaetodon lieneolatus, Chaetodon lunatus, Chaetodon tallii, Tetragonoptrus lineolatus

Similar species

Threadfin butterflyfish
Chaetodon auriga
Citron Butterfly
Chaetodon citrinellus
Blackblotch Butterflyfish
Chaetodon ephippium
Sunburst butterflyfish
Chaetodon kleinii
Raccoon butterflyfish
Chaetodon lunula
Oval Butterflyfish
Chaetodon lunulatus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,175 open-data records from 1931 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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