Chaetodontidae

Raccoon butterflyfish

Chaetodon lunula

Hunting nudibranchs and other small reef animals after darkness falls

• Black
• White
• Yellow
• Tropical
• Regional distribution
• Marine fish
• Compressed
• Compressed cross-section
• Medium
• Tropical fish

Featuring a striking facial mask reminiscent of a nocturnal mammal, the raccoon butterflyfish is an exquisite, disc-shaped chaetodontid wandering across tropical Indo-Pacific reefs. Its bright golden-yellow body is crossed by a broad, velvety black band running vertically across the eye, topped by an immaculate white horizontal bar, which is followed behind the gill cover by an imposing black crescent band extending towards the dorsal fin base. The lower sides are warmed by rich orange tones crossed by ascending reddish-brown diagonal stripes, leading to a yellow caudal fin finished with a crisp black submarginal bar. Extending from East Africa and the Red Sea across Micronesia and Hawaii to the Marquesas Islands, it patrols shallow rocky shores, outer drop-offs, and lagoons down to thirty meters depth. Unlike the majority of butterflyfishes which are strictly diurnal, the raccoon butterflyfish is predominantly nocturnal, spending bright days resting quietly beneath deep limestone ledges and emerging after sunset to hunt nudibranchs, tubeworms, sea anemones, and soft coral polyps. Maximum total length is recorded at twenty centimetres.

Sources: Australian Museum — Raccoon Butterflyfish, Chaetodon lunula