Among the most common fish that we found snorkeling in the Rock pools this time round was the little Raccoon Butterfly fish. Although they apparently can grow up to 20 cm long, the ones we found were only about 5 – 10 cm long (that’s just a guess) there were also tiny little baby ones swimming around with other baby fish as well, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were even less than a centimeter long.
It was quiet a cool find as we have only ever seen these fish on TV, but never in real life. The first one we saw I tried to chase as far as possible and was able to get quiet close to. But the strange thing was with all the fish they seemed to come closer to us and not feel so threatened when we switched our cameras off and just swam with them. But the moment we pointed our cameras at them they were scared of us and tried to swim away from us as quickly as they possibly could. Maybe they thought they camera was a predatory fish or even a spear gun.
So tip if you want the fish to come closer to you don’t video or take photos of them. Just relax and ‘swim with the fishes’ as the mafia always say. 😉
Here are a few fun facts and common questions about these fish:
Common Names for this specific Butterfly Fish and the Fish family it belongs to:
The raccoon butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula), also known as the crescent-masked butterflyfish, lunule butterflyfish, halfmoon butterflyfish, moon butterflyfish, raccoon butterfly, raccoon, raccoon coralfish, and redstriped butterflyfish, is a species of butterfly fish (family Chaetodontidae).
Its Photo:
To the left is a photo I took from the Internet and to the right is a photo that I took from the video we recorded.
Internet Version Our own photo
What it looks like?
Chaetodon lunula can reach a length of 20 cm (nearly 8 in). These large butterfly fishes have an oval outline, with a pattern of ascending oblique reddish stripes on the flanks and black and white bands over the face and eyes, similar to the “raccoon” mask (hence the common name). They show a black spot on the caudal peduncle and oblique yellow stripes behind the head. They have 10-14 dorsal spines and 3 anal spines.
What type of habitat do they prefer?
This species prefers seaward reefs and shallow reef flats of lagoon, at a depth of over 30 m.
So there are a few facts about this cute little fishy that seemingly looks lost in that big wide ocean.
Information Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon_butterflyfish
Photo Source: Our own photography, https://www.azgardens.com/product/raccoon-butterflyfish/
