Blackback butterflyfish
Chaetodon melannotus
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Blackback butterflyfish
- Scientific
- Chaetodon melannotus
- Dhivehi
- ކަޅަލި ބިބީKalhali bibee
- Group
- Reef fish
- Maximum size
- Up to about 25 cm (total length)
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 2 to 20 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2009
Description
A white to pale yellow butterflyfish with thin diagonal dark lines, a dark back, a black eye bar and yellow fins; at night or when alarmed the back darkens further. It lives in coral-rich areas, singly or in pairs, and feeds on the polyps of soft and hard corals.
In the Maldives
Dhivehi Wikipedia (MRS-derived) gives kalhali bibee.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Chaetodon-melannotus.html
- fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=5566&GenusName=Chaetodon&SpeciesName=
- dv.wikipedia.org /wiki/ކަޅަލި_ބިބީ
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:AkebonoCU.jpg
Dhivehi name source: FishBase (country: Maldives) gives only the general group name 'Dhon bibi'. Thaana from the Dhivehi Wikipedia article 'ކަޅަލި ބިބީ' (derived from the MRS 1997 Dhivehi edition). No published Latin-script form found; 'Kalhali bibee' is Pax's transliteration of the Thaana (Malé Latin conventions). FLAG: Latin form is a transliteration, not a published spelling.