---
title: "Indian Redfin Butterflyfish"
description: "Chaetodon trifasciatus — Fish. The melon butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifasciatus) or the Indian redfin butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/indian-redfin-butterflyfish
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Indian Redfin Butterflyfish

> Chaetodon trifasciatus — Fish. The melon butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifasciatus) or the Indian redfin butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae.

- Scientific name: *Chaetodon trifasciatus*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 1397
- Wikidata: [Q1661580](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1661580)
- iNaturalist taxon: [48744](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48744)

## Names

- en: Indian Redfin Butterflyfish
- de: Indischer Rippen-Falterfisch
- es: Pez Mariposa Melón
- fr: Poisson-papillon côtelé indien
- nl: Drieband koraalvlinder

## Countries with the most observations

MV (339), TH (148), SC (141), TZ (91), KE (78), RE (68), MU (61), MG (60), MM (55), ID (43), IN (43), YT (38)

## Summary

The melon butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifasciatus) or the Indian redfin butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the Indian Ocean from East Africa to Western Java. This is one species of a closely related group which includes the blacktail butterflyfish (C. austriacus) of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and the oval butterflyfish (C. lunulatus) which is found in the western Pacific, from eastern coasts of the Indonesian islands to Australia.
Melon butterflyfish should not be confused with chevron butterflyfish (C. trifascialis), three…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melon_butterflyfish

## Photo

![Indian Redfin Butterflyfish](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/indian-redfin-butterflyfish/medium.jpg)

Photo: Erwin Sieben · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/357768342

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/indian-redfin-butterflyfish?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).