What Animal Lives Where

Where has the Oval Butterflyfish been recorded?

Chaetodon lunulatus occurrence evidence comes from 2,121 records in 24 countries and territories, from 1900 to 2026. Most records come from United States.

Oval Butterflyfish
Oval Butterflyfish — Photo (display-sized rendition): Stealthwater · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
PerciformesChaetodontidaeChaetodon

Observation evidence passport

Evidence found

2,121 records across 24 countries and territories, 1900–2026.

Chaetodon lunulatus · GBIF taxon key 2385403

Source coverage

CC0 GBIF Animalia occurrence facets, including country, month and year summaries.

Refreshed 2026-09-22. Inspect the taxon on GBIF.

What this means

The species has been recorded in the listed places in the stated source universe. Peak month: May.

12 months reach at least 10% of the peak facet count.

What this does not mean

repeated describes the record pattern, not a formal range, residency, abundance or conservation assessment.

A single record remains evidence of a recording, not proof that a population lives there.

Compare this animal’s observation pattern

When it is recorded

JFMAMJJASOND

Peak month: May. Records cluster in the months an animal is present and being looked for, so a summer peak can reflect observer effort as much as the animal.

Records over time

19002026

Recording effort has risen steeply almost everywhere since the 1990s, so a rising line usually shows more observers rather than more animals.

Where Oval Butterflyfish has been recorded

The countries below show where occurrence evidence exists for Oval Butterflyfish. They do not define a complete habitat range: survey effort differs by place, and historical or one-off records can appear alongside repeated presence.

PlaceRecordsShare
United States 533
American Samoa 411
United States Minor Outlying Islands 384
Guam 157
French Polynesia 77
Fiji 69
Northern Mariana Islands 69
Kiribati 49
Palau 49
Philippines 48
Indonesia 47
Micronesia 38
Marshall Islands 35
Australia 32
Papua New Guinea 28
Solomon Islands 22
Japan 17
Tonga 15
Wallis & Futuna 12
Vanuatu 9
ZZ 9
New Caledonia 6
Christmas Island 4
Tokelau 1

Related animals

Others in the family Chaetodontidae.

Ornate Butterflyfish
Ornate Butterflyfish
4,122 records
Reticulated Butterflyfish
Reticulated Butterflyfish
3,674 records
Threadfin Butterflyfish
Threadfin Butterflyfish
3,550 records
Redstriped Butterflyfish
Redstriped Butterflyfish
2,918 records
Fourspot Butterflyfish
Fourspot Butterflyfish
2,508 records
Whitespotted Butterflyfish
Whitespotted Butterflyfish
2,050 records
Chevroned Butterflyfish
Chevroned Butterflyfish
1,895 records
Dot and Dash Butterflyfish
Dot and Dash Butterflyfish
1,828 records
Record pattern: repeated
Repeated records across many years and months. This is inferred from how many years and months the animal appears in, not from a range map — treat it as evidence, not a formal assessment.