Foureye butterflyfish

The foureye butterflyfish is named for its large, black eye spots, which are designed to confuse predators.  The first thing a predator sees is the false eye spots.  With these, it appears that the back end of the fish is the front end, and any predator would expect the fish to move one direction, while the butterflyfish can escape by swimming off the other direction.

The juvenile foureye butterflyfish has a second set of the false eye spots above the set that they retain as adults.  The real eyes are obscured by the diagonal black bar that runs through them.

This species can grow up to 6 inches, but the fish in these photos were about 4 inches long.  The photos were taken at depths of 15 to 30 feet. From my observations, I would say that this is the second most abundant butterflyfish on Bonaire's reefs.