Black Butterfish

About this species

The dusky morwong is a species of marine ray-finned fish, traditionally regarded as belonging to the family Cheilodactylidae, the members of which are commonly known as morwongs. It is native to the western and southern coastal reefs of Australia. This species is the only known member of its genus.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Dusky morwong”, 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: 335 records
February: 243 records
March: 273 records
April: 177 records
May: 164 records
June: 71 records
July: 189 records
August: 336 records
September: 136 records
October: 120 records
November: 171 records
December: 246 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–18 m · Deepest record: 36.5 m

0–10 m: 12 records
10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 14–21 °C

12–14 °C: 2 records
14–16 °C: 78 records
16–18 °C: 4 records
18–20 °C: 6 records
20–22 °C: 6 records

Photos

(c) Alex Stuart, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Tim, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Christopher Mark, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lawrence Hylton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) ttsquid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Grady Duffy, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Belinda Forbes, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Black Butterfish, Butterfish, Butter Perch, Dusky Morwong, Nunckla, Nunda, Shitfish, Strongfish, Tillywurti

Other scientific names: Cheilodactylus nigricans, Psilocranium nigricans

Similar species

Banded Morwong
Chirodactylus spectabilis
Natal Fingerfin
Chirodactylus jessicalenorum

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).
801 open-data records from 1873 to 2023.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.