Butterflyfish Feeding

Feeding

Some Butterflyfish only eat the tentacles of the actual coral animals, and so are totally dependant on good coral health.

Others are less choosy and may feed on other small animals or algae around the reef, or even out in the deeper water.

Food	Description
Hard Corals	Peck at the hard coral rocks, eating the tips of the tentacles of the coral animals (polyps)
Soft Corals	Leather corals have exposed polyps which look like white flowers
Benthic Invertebrates	Small crabs, shells and worms living in and around the corals. Sometimes the tips of sea anemones, or dying jellyfish.
Algae	Single cell plants living closely with the corals get eaten when the fish is pecking the reef. Some pick large seaweeds off the seabed.
Zooplankton	Tiny floating plants and animals in deeper water above the reef.

If you find a reef is dominated by one or two species you may be able to draw some conclusions about the reef type in that area.

Common name	*Scientific name*	Hard Corals	Soft Corals	Benthic Invertebrates	Algae	Zooplankton
Bennetts butterfly	Chaetodon bennetti	X
Black butterfly	Chaetodon flavirostris	X		X	X
Blackbacked butterfly	Chaetodon melannotus	X	X
Bluespot butterfly	Chaetodon plebeius	X
Cheveroned butterfly	Chaetodon trifascialis	X			X
Dot and dash butterfly	Chaetodon pelewensis	X		X
Dotted butterfly	Chaetodon semeion
Double-saddled butterfly	Chaetodon ulietensis			X	X
Forceps butterfly	Forcipiger flavissimus			X
Fourspot butterfly	Chaetodon quadrimaculatus	X
Klein's butterfly	Chaetodon kleinii			X		X
Latticed butterfly	Chaetodon rafflessi	X	X	X	X	X
Lined butterfly	Chaetodon linoelatus		X	X	X
Long-nosed butterfly	Forcipiger longirostris			X
Merten's butterfly	Chaetodon mertensii			X	X
Ornate butterfly	Chaetodon ornatissimus	X
Pyramid butterfly	Hemitaurichthys polylepsis					X
Racoon butterfly	Chaetodon lunula	X	X	X	X	X
Redfin butterfly	Chaetodon lunulatus	X
Reticulated butterfly	Chaetodon reticulatus	X
Saddled butterfly	Chaetodon ephippium	X	X	X	X	X
Speckled butterfly	Chaetodon citrinellus	X	X	X	X	X
Spot-nape butterfly	Chaetodon oxycephalus		X
Teardrop butterfly	Chaetodon unimaculatus	X	X	X	X	X
Threadfin butterfly	Chaetodon auriga	X	X	X	X	X
Triangle butterfly	Chaetodon baronessa	X
Vagabond butterfly	Chaetodon vagabundus	X	X	X	X	X