Gold-banded Butterflyfish, Gold-striped Butterflyfish, Golden Butterflyfish, Sunburst Butterflyfish
Chaetodon aureofasciatus, Photo: Rick Stuart-Smith
Chaetodon aureofasciatus, Juvenile, Coral Sea, Australia, Photo: Ian Shaw
Distribution
Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Yellow with purple shading on sides of body, dark-edged gold band through eye and behind operculum. C. rainfordi (Rainford's butterflyfish) has additional similar bands along the body, and usually a black spot on tail base.
Information
Max Size: 13 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 20.2-31.5°C
Depth: 1-20m
Habitat: Coral Reef
Habitat Generalisation Index: 20
Also referred to as the SGI (Species generalisation index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species.
Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most
hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here
Rarity
Threats: Exploitation, Habitat degradation
IUCN Threat Status: Least Concern
Occurrence: Common (47% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution.
It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Several (6 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: RD Stuart-Smith, GJ Edgar, AJ Green, IV Shaw. 2015. Tropical Marine Fishes of Australia. Reed New Holland