---
title: "Speckled Butterflyfish"
description: "Chaetodon citrinellus — Fish. Chaetodon citrinellus is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae)."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/speckled-butterflyfish
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Speckled Butterflyfish

> Chaetodon citrinellus — Fish. Chaetodon citrinellus is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae).

- Scientific name: *Chaetodon citrinellus*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 2572
- Wikidata: [Q1969551](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1969551)
- iNaturalist taxon: [97150](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/97150)

## Names

- en: Speckled Butterflyfish
- de: Zitronen-Falterfisch
- es: Pez mariposa moteado
- fr: Poisson-papillon citron

## Countries with the most observations

AU (511), PF (322), FJ (249), NC (213), ID (172), MV (116), CK (81), TW (61), VU (61), GU (53), JP (51), TO (38)

## Summary

Chaetodon citrinellus is a species of butterflyfish (family Chaetodontidae). It is commonly known as the speckled butterflyfish or citron butterflyfish. It is found in the Indo-Pacific: the Red Sea, East Africa to the Hawaiian, Marquesan and Tuamotu islands, north to southern Japan and south to Australia.
It is a distinct species, most closely related to the fourspot butterflyfish (C. quadrimaculatus). Together they are basal in the subgenus Exornator, and might be intermediate between the core group of this subgenus and the species of the Rhombochaetodon (or Roaops) lineage. If that is correct, the latter would require…

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

## Photo

![Speckled Butterflyfish](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/speckled-butterflyfish/medium.jpg)

Photo: Jean-Paul Boerekamps · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/141137572

## Machine access

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