Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish

The Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus) is a vivid yellow Indo-Pacific butterflyfish instantly recognized by its long, thin, tweezer-like snout. The upper head is black and the lower face white, and a small black eyespot sits near the tail on the anal fin. The elongated snout lets it reach into narrow crevices for prey. It is a hardy, widespread reef fish and a popular aquarium species. A near look-alike, the Big Longnose Butterflyfish, has an even longer snout, but F. flavissimus is the more common of the two.

Recognize the Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish by:

• A long, thin, forceps-like snout.
• Bright yellow body with a black upper head and white lower face.
• A small black eyespot near the tail on the anal fin.
• Disc-shaped body, ~18-22 cm.

The long snout plus all-yellow body separates it from other butterflyfish; the near-identical Forcipiger longirostris has an even longer snout and finer facial spotting.

Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish inhabit coral reefs, reef flats, and outer slopes from the shallows to about 100 m across the tropical Indo-Pacific and eastern Pacific, one of the widest ranges of any butterflyfish. They favour reefs with plenty of crevices where the long snout can probe for food.

Yellow Longnose Butterflyfish are diurnal and use their elongated snouts to pick small crustaceans, worms, fish eggs, and other tiny invertebrates from crevices and coral. They occur singly or in pairs and shelter in the reef at night. Like other butterflyfish they often form pair bonds and spawn by releasing eggs into the water column above the reef.