Vagabond Butterflyfish

The vagabond butterflyfish has a whitish body which is marked with two series of thin dark diagonal lines perpendicular to each other, forming a chevron pattern. There is also a wide black vertical band running through the eye and a second band running through the caudal peduncle and a third on the centre of the caudal fin. There are very thin orange horizontal lines over the forehead. The juveniles have a black dot on the soft-rayed part of their dorsal fin, near the posterior end. The dorsal fin contains 13 spines and 23–25 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 19–22 soft rays. This species grows to a maximum total length of 23 centimetres (9.1 in) although a more typical length would be 15 centimetres (5.9 in).

The vagabond butterflyfish is found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It occurs from the eastern coast of Africa, where it is found from Socotra to KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa; across the Indian Ocean east as far as the Line and Gambier Islands in Polynesia, north to southern Japan and south to New South Wales and Rapa Iti.