Reef fish Hawaii

Bandit Angelfish

White and gray with black mask through eye. To 7 in. Endemic

Fishers angelfish female. Orange brown with dark smudge above pectoral fin

Potter’s angelfish

Rusty orange with irregular vertical lines. To 5 in. Endemic

Flame Angelfish

Red with black vertical bars. Uncommon. To 4 inches

Heller’s barracuda

Usually in tight semi-stationary schools; silvery. To 32 in.

Common Bigeye

Red, often with silvery blotches. Two similar species. Convex tail fin. To 12 in.

Endemic. Concave tail fin. Faint dark spots along lateral line

SPOTTED CORAL BLENNY male

Males with mostly reddish spots. Also called Shortbodied Blenny. To 6 in.

SPOTTED BOXFISH

Males with blue sides; females all black with white spots. To 6 in.

SPOTTED CORAL BLENNY female

Females with brown spots. Also called Shortbodied Blenny. To 6 in.

THREADFIN BUTTERFLYFISH

Yellow tail and rear body. Whitish with right-angled diagonal lines.

To 8 in.

Speckled butterflyfish. Black margin on anal fun unlike millitseed. Doesn’t have tail band

SADDLEBACK BUTTERFLYFISH

Gray with black saddle rimmed in white. To 8 in.

BLUESTRIPE BUTTERFLYFISH

Yellow with diagonal blue lines. To 6 in. Endemic.

Black lip or blue head butte

LINED BUTTERFLYFISH

Wide black eye bar enclosed white spot on nape. Whitish with vertical black lines. To 12 in.

RACCOON BUTTERFLYFISH

Wise diagonal black band running to dorsal fin. Black mask hides eye; white bar behind. To 8 in.

OVAL BUTTERFLYFISH

Apricot gold with horizontal gray lines.

To 5.5 in.

MILLETSEED BUTTERFLYFISH

Yellow with vertical lines of black spots. To 6.5 in. Endemic.

MULTIBAND BUTTERFLYFISH

Brown spots and five to six brown vertical bars. To 4 in. Endemic.

ORNATE BUTTERFLYFISH

Cream with diagonal orange bands.

To 8 in.

FOURSPOT BUTTERFLYFISH

Two white spots on each side.

To 6 in.

Reticulated butterflyfish.

Tinkers butterflyfish. Divided on the diagonal white and black with a yellow eye band

TEARDROP BUTTERFLYFISH

Black teardrop-shaped spot on side.

To 8 in.

LONGNOSE BUTTERFLYFISH

Yellow body; very long narrow snout.

Two similar species. To 7 in.

PYRAMID BUTTERFLYFISH

White pyramid on side.

To 6 in.

Thompson butterflyfish. Often seen with pyramid butterflyfish.

PENNANT BUTTERFLYFISH/SCHOOLING BANNERFISH

Second band ending at tip of anal fin. Form large aggregations. Black and white with white pennant.

To 8 in.

Big longnose butterflyfish

Black spots on breast. Longer snout than longnose.

BLACKSPOT SERGEANT

Black spot above tail base.

To 9 in.

INDO-PACIFIC SERGEANT

Yellow on back with black vertical bars.

To 8 in.

Hawaiian sergeant

Greenish white on back with black vertical bars. To 10 in. Endemic

Agile Chromis

Brown with lavender tinge; spot at pectoral base. To 4 in

CHOCOLATE DIP CHROMIS

Brown body; bright white tail.

To 3.5 in. Endemic.

OVAL CHROMIS

Brassy yellow green; juvenile bluish with yellow back. To 7.5 in. Endemic.

THREESPOT CHROMIS

Black with three small white spots near tail. To 8.5 in. Endemic.

BLACKFIN CHROMIS

In groups above the reef.

Blue-black anal fin. To 2.8 in.

HAWAIIAN DASCYLLUS

Blackish to grayish; juvenile with white spot on side and head. To 5 in. Endemic.

BRIGHT-EYE DAMSELFISH

In shallow water on top of reef.

To 2.5 in.

BLUE-EYE DAMSELFISH

In heads of branching coral.

To 4.5 in.

HAWAIIAN GREGORY

Blackish with yellow eye. Previously known as Pacific Gregory. To 6 in. Endemic.

SCRAWLED FILEFISH

Thin as a board; blue scribbles on side.

To 30 in.

BARRED FILEFISH

Grayish brown with faint vertical bars.

To 15 in.

SQUARETAIL FILEFISH

Small white spot above tail base.

To 7 in.

HAWAIIAN FANTAIL FILEFISH

Dark spots; orange tail fin.

To 7 in. Endemic.

YELLOWTAIL FILEFISH

Grayish brown with yellow tail.

To 4.5 in.

HAWAIIAN FLAGTAIL

Silvery; usually in semi-stationary schools.

To 12 in. Endemic.

PEACOCK FLOUNDER

Lives on hard substrate.

Different species on sand. To 19 in.

Commerson’s/giant Frogfish

Master of camouflage; color variable. To 12 in

SQUARE-SPOT/yellow stripe GOATFISH

Whitish, often with squarish dark spot.

To 16 in.

ISLAND JACK/yellowspot trevally

Silvery with scattered gold spots.

To 28 in.

M

F

M

Small tooth jobfish/ forktail snapper

Green jobfish/ gray snapper