Sealife guideThe eastern triangle butterflyfishChaetodon baronessa

Taxonomy

Common name: Eastern triangle butterflyfish, triangular butterflyfish
French name: Poisson papillon triangulaire indien
Scientific name: Chaetodon baronessa (Cuvier, 1829)
Family name: Chaetodontidae
Order name: Acanthuriformes
Class name: Actinopterygii

Range

The eastern triangle butterflyfish is found in the central Indo-Pacific region, from the Cocos Islands and Indonesia in the eastern Indian Ocean to the Fiji and Tonga islands, north to southern Japan, and south to New Caledonia and the New South Wales region in Australia.

The eastern triangle butterflyfish (Chaetodon baronessa) © Orlandin | Dreamstime.com

Did you know ?

The eastern triangle butterflyfish is listed as many other marine species within The IUCN Red List of threatened species. The eastern triangle butterflyfish appears in the IUCN Red List since 2010 within the category Least Concern !

Tips for observing

Be careful not to confuse the eastern triangle butterflyfish with two other species of butterflyfish looking similar, the triangle butterflyfish (Chaetodon triangulum) you can find in Madagascar, in Seychelles, in Mautitius island as well as in Chagos archipelago and the triangulate butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifascialis).

Within the same genus

Chevroned butterflyfish
(Chaetodon trifascialis)

Redtail butterflyfish
(Chaetodon collare)

Masked butterflyfish
(Chaetodon semilarvatus)

Pearlscale butterflyfish
(Chaetodon xanthurus)

Melon butterflyfish
(Chaetodon trifasciatus)

Speckled butterflyfish
(Chaetodon citrinellus)

Blackwedged butterflyfish
(Chaetodon falcula)

Peppered butterflyfish
(Chaetodon guttatissimus)

Within the same family

Singular bannerfish
(Heniochus singularius)

Horned bannerfish
(Heniochus varius)

Copperbanded butterfly
(Chelmon rostratus)

Orange banded butterflyfish
(Coradion chrysozonus)

Two eyed butterflyfish
(Coradion melanopus)

Longnose butterflyfish
(Forcipiger flavissimus)

Pyramid butterflyfish
(Hemitaurichthys polylepis)

Explore also

Bigeye trevally
(Caranx sexfasciatus)

Leafy sea dragon
(Phycodurus eques)

Bluestreak goby
(Valenciennea strigata)

Redcoat
(Sargocentron rubrum)

Sammara squirrelfish
(Neoniphon sammara)

Painted frogfish
(Antennarius pictus)

Swarthy Parrotfish
(Scarus niger)

Red indian fish
(Pataecus fronto)

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