DAY 17 – MARCH FOCUS ON NORFOLK ISLAND’S REEF

Butterflyfish are flighty, brightly coloured and beautifully conspicuous on our coral reef in their bright yellows and oranges, white and black livery. On Norfolk Island we regularly see fourteen species, just a small portion of the more than 100 species, globally.

They are generally quite territorial. Some species will often form a pair bond, which can last for life, and will lay claim to a patch of coral reef as their territory. Having said that, I have noticed others, such as the chevron, citron, and dot-and-dash butterflyfish, are often solitary.

At certain times of the year, usually when the corals are spawning, they will come together to form small schools. It was at coral spawning time that I took the photograph of the threadfin butterflyfish school, top.

Some species feed on corals and only corals, while others will consume plankton as well, but of all the fish that live on coral reefs, and there are thousands, only around 40 species like to crunch on hard coral and more than half of those are butterflyfish. Large numbers of butterflyfish are a good sign of a healthy reef.

The most common species on Norfolk Island’s reef is the threadfin butterflyfish and the least common are the dot-and-dash and the citron butterflyfishes.

Whatever the species, though, I get a real thrill when I get a nice clear photo of these delightful little fish.

Below are photos of our butterflyfish species found here on Norfolk Island. You can find many more images of butterflyfish at different stages of their lifecycle on the fishes page of this website. Scroll down to B for butterflyfish.