Tara’s Fave Fish Friday – Gunther’s Butterflyfish

Welcome to Tara’s Fave Fish Friday! Where we explore one of Tara’s favorite fish from the Solitary Islands Marine Park.
Today’s fave fish is the Gunther’s Butterflyfish – Chaetodon Guentheri.
These cuties are often found in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. They’re a tropical but cold-water species, which makes the Dive Sites we see them at a perfect temperature. They hang around reef and rocky areas. I’ve noticed when they move the colour of their scales appears to change – like the back of the scale is a darker shade so they appear to get darker. They can grow up to 14cm and they feed off small invertibrates and detritus from the sand, and also have been known to clean large pelagic fish.
They’re gorgeous little things, I like that they hang in little groups.
Check out a video of some Gunther’s Butterflyfish on our Instagram and Facebook pages.
 
Sources:
Thalassoma lutescens – SURG.org.au
Photo by Tara, 13/8/2021.