Teardrop Butterflyfish

The teardrop butterflyfish has a whitish body with yellow dorsal, anal and pelvic fins, this yellow colour extends on to the back. The upper flank is marked with a large teardrop shaped black blotch and there is a wide, black, vertical bar though the eye. There are delicate yellowish-orange chevrons on the flanks in front of the black teardrop and there is another black vertical band with runs from the rear of the dorsal fin, across the caudal peduncle to the rear of the anal fin. The dorsal fin contains 12–13 spines and 19–23 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines and 18–20 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 20 centimetres (7.9 in), although around 16 centimetres (6.3 in) is more usual.

The teardrop butterflyfish is found in the eastern Indian and western Pacific Oceans from Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Island east as far as Hawaii, the Marquesas and Ducie Island, north as far as Southern Japan, and south to Lord Howe in the Tasman Sea and the central coast of New South Wales.