Clown Butterflyfish

Chaetodon ornatissimus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth4–23 m
Water temperature24–30 °C
Best monthsApril, August, and September
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

The ornate butterflyfish, or clown butterflyfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish in the family Chaetodontidae.

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 265 records
February: 426 records
March: 686 records
April: 1,136 records
May: 574 records
June: 764 records
July: 702 records
August: 932 records
September: 790 records
October: 667 records
November: 323 records
December: 236 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–23 m · Deepest record: 520 m

0–10 m: 1,584 records
10–20 m: 2,114 records
20–30 m: 885 records
30–40 m: 5 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 2 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 2 records
80–90 m: 2 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 5 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 24–30 °C

22–24 °C: 28 records
24–26 °C: 176 records
26–28 °C: 88 records
28–30 °C: 273 records

Photos

no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Henrik Kibak, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Alessandro Franchini, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Solomon Islands Fish ID Project, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) mdettling, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Logan Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Clown Butterflyfish, Ornate Butterfly, Ornate Butterflyfish, Ornate Coralfish, ornated butterflyfish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Orangestreifen-Falterfisch
Spanish: Pez mariposa adornado
French: Chaetodon orné, Poisson-papillon orné
Japanese: Hanagurochochouo, Hanaguro-chô-chô-uo, ハナグロチョウチョウウオ
Simplified Chinese: 华丽蝴蝶鱼, 斜紋蝶, 華麗蝴蝶魚

Other scientific names: Chaetodon lydiae, Chaetodon ornatus, Citharoedus ornatissimus

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).
6,508 open-data records from 1901 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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