Although basically a black and white fish, the Banded Butterflyfish is quite lovely, and is rather approachable. This year, we have been fortunate to find a couple of early juvenile Banded Butterflyfish. They look much like the adults, but have a large black spot, ringed in white, on the back of their dorsal fin. This black spot functions as a false eye spot, that confuses predators. The early juvenile in the bottom photo is about an 1.5 inches long.
Adult Banded Butterflyfish, which are frequently seen on the reef swimming in pairs, are about 5 inches long.
No comments:
Post a Comment