but′terfly fish`

or but′ter•fly•fish`,

any of various colored tropical fishes of the family Chaetodontidae, having deep, narrow bodies and darting movements suggestive of a butterfly.

[1735–45]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

butterfly fish - small usually brilliantly colored tropical marine fishes having narrow deep bodies with large broad fins; found worldwide

percoid, percoid fish, percoidean - any of numerous spiny-finned fishes of the order Perciformes

Chaetodontidae, family Chaetodontidae - butterfly fishes

chaetodon - any fish of the genus Chaetodon

angelfish - a butterfly fish of the genus Pomacanthus

Holocanthus tricolor, rock beauty - gold and black butterflyfish found from West Indies to Brazil

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References in periodicals archive

In its lagoon, I found coral reeds full of bright orange clownfish and yellow-striped butterfly fish that rushed to kiss my hand.

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Expect to see humphead wrasses, barracudas, butterfly fish, and colonies of sea snakes.

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I was looking at Nemo's reef home: delicate angel fish, butterfly fish and of course the cute clown fish themselves, flanked by Blue Tang Dory, reminding me to "just keep swimming".

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Chunky pink and blue parrotfish, so close you can hear their teeth gnawing the rock below as they forage, share space with black and white striped damselfish, acidyellow butterfly fish and cleverly camouflaged lizardfish lurking on the hard marine landscape.

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Chunky pink and blue parrotfish, so close you can hear their teeth gnawing the rock below as they forage, share space with black and white striped damselfish, acid-yellow butterfly fish and cleverly camouflaged lizardfish lurking on the hard marine landscape.

Dive back into Egypt; As a great winter sun destination, Egypt is vying with the Canaries for top slot. HANNAH STEPHENSON visits Hurghada to find out what it has to offer

Most are between 10 and 20 centimeters long, though the Lined Butterfly fish reaches almost 30 centimeters.

The Birds of Spring

Already, the barren area around the artificial reef has become home to 32 species of fish including damselfish, butterfly fish, lizardfish, thread fin beams, rabbitfish, cardinal fish and lion fish.

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Some, like butterfly fish and wrasses, are less distressed by pressure reduction, but others, like wrasse basslets and jawfish, are quite susceptible.

Tiny trophies: collecting small fish and invertebrates for marine aquariums

Work through the Goliath Grouper worksheet together, and then have students work through the same questions using the snook and longjaw butterfly fish data independently.

The importance of mathematical models to scientific discovery: a case study on the feeding mechanism of the Goliath Grouper Epinephelus itajara

i overcome my fear of the choppy water to go snorkelling, and spot an array of marine life including parrotfish, angelfish, barracudas and butterfly fish.

Spring celebrations as spa lines up with stars; Delving into the Mayan past, EMILY Ly L BOYNTON finds her Mexican escape is an energising experience