Mirror butterflyfish

About this species

The mirror butterflyfish or oval-spot butterflyfish is a species of butterflyfish. It is found in the Indo-Pacific region from Indonesia to Japan and south to the Great Barrier Reef and Papua New Guinea. The species has also been reported from Madagascar, Mauritius and Réunion.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Mirror 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: 112 records
February: 84 records
March: 114 records
April: 123 records
May: 124 records
June: 153 records
July: 148 records
August: 132 records
September: 140 records
October: 230 records
November: 118 records
December: 114 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–24 m · Deepest record: 320 m

0–10 m: 38 records
10–20 m: 6 records
20–30 m: 10 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 11 records
24–26 °C: 53 records
26–28 °C: 8 records
28–30 °C: 33 records

Photos

(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Susan Prior, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lisa Bennett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Austen Novis, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Piotr Lukasik, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Mirror butterflyfish, Onespot Butterflyfish, Oval-spot Butterflyfish, Ovalspot Butterflyfish, Oval-spot Coralfish, Ovalspot Coralfish, Oval-spotted Coralfish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Einfleck-Falterfisch, Malaiischer Einfleck-Falterfisch
Spanish: Pez Mariposa Lunareja
French: Poisson-papillon à miroir
Japanese: Tonosamadai, トノサマダイ
Simplified Chinese: 鏡斑蝴蝶魚, 镜斑蝴蝶鱼, 黃一點, 黃鏡斑

Other scientific names: Chaetodon ocellifer, Chaetodon spilopleura, Nalbantius speculum

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).
735 open-data records from 1909 to 2022.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.