---
title: "Spotfin Butterflyfish"
description: "Chaetodon ocellatus — Fish. The spotfin butterflyfish (Chaetodon ocellatus) is species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish from the family Chaetodontidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/spotfin-butterflyfish
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Spotfin Butterflyfish

> Chaetodon ocellatus — Fish. The spotfin butterflyfish (Chaetodon ocellatus) is species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish from the family Chaetodontidae.

- Scientific name: *Chaetodon ocellatus*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 2003
- Wikidata: [Q1958211](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1958211)
- iNaturalist taxon: [49273](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/49273)

## Names

- en: Spotfin Butterflyfish
- de: Nördlicher Falterfisch
- es: Mariposa perla amarilla
- fr: Poisson-papillon ocellé

## Countries with the most observations

US (508), MX (285), BZ (132), HN (124), BS (94), KY (73), PA (68), CU (55), TT (43), CO (28), CW (26), CA (25)

## Summary

The spotfin butterflyfish (Chaetodon ocellatus) is species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish from the family Chaetodontidae. It is found in the western Atlantic Ocean, in the Gulf of Mexico and most commonly found in the Caribbean Sea.
The name is derived from the dark spot on the fish's dorsal fin.  This, combined with a vertical, black bar through the eye, is an adaptation that can confuse predators. The vertical black bar disappears as the fish gets older and other black lines become more prominent. Along with other Caribbean Seas reef dwelling tropical fish, many young spotfin butterfly fish get sucked…

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

## Photo

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

Photo: Evan Feusi · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/387954200

## Machine access

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