Cross-hatch Butterflyfish

Chaetodon xanthurus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth6–21 m
Water temperature-2–29 °C
Best monthsApril, May, and December
How commonRare

Photo credit: (c) Brian Gratwicke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

The pearlscale butterflyfish, also known as yellow-tailed butterflyfish, crosshatch butterflyfish or Philippines chevron butterflyfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Pearlscale 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: 16 records
February: 20 records
March: 16 records
April: 22 records
May: 34 records
June: 20 records
July: 16 records
August: 14 records
September: 9 records
October: 19 records
November: 17 records
December: 33 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 6–21 m · Deepest record: 25 m

0–10 m: 11 records
10–20 m: 6 records
20–30 m: 4 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of -2–29 °C

-2–0 °C: 1 records
0–2 °C: 0 records
2–4 °C: 0 records
4–6 °C: 0 records
6–8 °C: 0 records
8–10 °C: 0 records
10–12 °C: 0 records
12–14 °C: 0 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 0 records
24–26 °C: 2 records
26–28 °C: 7 records
28–30 °C: 37 records

Photos

(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Piotr Lukasik, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Cross-hatch Butterflyfish, Crosshatch Butterflyfish, Netted Butterflyfish, Orange Butterflyfish, Pearlscale Butterflyfish, Philippine Chevron Butterflyfish, Yellow-tail Butterflyfish, Yellowtail Butterflyfish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Orangen-Gitterfalterfisch
Spanish: Pez Mariposa de Cola Dorada
French: Poisson-papillon à queue orange
Japanese: Amimechochouo, Amime-chôchô-uo, アミメチョウチョウウオ
Simplified Chinese: 紅尾蝴蝶魚, 黃網蝶, 黃蝴蝶魚, 黄蝴蝶鱼

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).
106 open-data records from 1909 to 2015.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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