Rainford's butterflyfish
Chaetodon rainfordi
Illustration: Bloom by Day
A bright yellow butterflyfish crossed by two broad blue-grey bands edged in orange, with an orange bar through the eye and a black spot on the tail base. An east-coast speciality, usually in pairs over inshore coral, and it does not range far from the one patch it lives on.
how to recognise it
- yellow all over
- two broad bluish-grey bands with yellowish-orange margins across the body
- an orange bar through the eye
- a narrow orange bar at the base of the pectoral fin
don’t confuse with
- Goldstripe butterflyfish — the goldstripe butterflyfish has a greyish, purple-shaded body with a yellow rim, and no bands along the body
Field marks read from Fishes of Australia, 2026-10-16. Our wording, their facts. Max size 15 cm TL.
facts
- habitat
- reef
- size
- ~11 cm, to 15 cm
Max size from Fishes of Australia (15 cm TL); the typical size is Bluebird’s, not from a cited source
- records
- 733 at 5 spot(s), none of
them in this region
Recorded at Fitzroy Island (Cairns), Hardy Reef (Whitsundays), Hayman Island — Blue Pearl Bay, Hook Island — Manta Ray Bay, Erskine Island. A count of occurrence records, not abundance. Records are where someone looked.
when it has been recorded
JFMAMJJASOND
A gap means no record in the sample, not absence.
the rule
no QLD rule listed — check before you dive
no NSW rule listed — check before you dive
no closed season recorded for this species — that is not the same as open; check the official page
Rules checked 2026-10-13 against qld.gov.au
Rules change. Check before you dive.
Occurrence data: Atlas of Living Australia (ala.org.au), CC-BY 4.0.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.
Diver transect counts: Reef Life Survey (reeflifesurvey.com), CC-BY 4.0, supplied via ALA.
Target and protected species: Queensland tidal-water size and possession limits (qld.gov.au) and NSW saltwater bag and size limits plus threatened species lists (dpird.nsw.gov.au).
Habitat and size: Bluebird, approximate, from general knowledge. Not cited. FishBase is CC BY-NC and this app is commercial, so it is not used.
Description written for Bloom. RECORDS ARE WHERE SOMEONE LOOKED, NOT WHERE THE FISH ARE. A record count is a count of records near here and nothing else -- it is not abundance, and a species with few records is not rare. Absence of records is not absence of fish.