Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Chaetodon lunula
mariposa mapache, Raccoon butterflyfish
Yellow body with dusky diagonal bands, and black diagonal band from white bar behind eye to dorsal fin; black blotch at base of tail. up to 20 cm
rocky, boulder strewn areas
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Teleostei
Order
Acanthuriformes
Suborder
Percoidei
Family
Chaetodontidae
Genus
Chaetodon
Species
lunula
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Chaetodon biocellatus Cuvier, 1831, Chaetodon lunulatus Shaw, 1803, Pomacentrus lunula Lacepède, 1802, Tetragonoptrus biocellatus (Cuvier, 1831), Tetragonoptrus lunula (Lacepède, 1802), fide Appeltans et al. (2010)
Origin: Vagrant
Distribution: wide-ranging, Indo-West pacific, the only eastern Pacific area is Ecuador in theGalapagos Islands Tropical Indo-Pacific. Vagrant Cocos Islands
- Appeltans, W. Bouchet, P., Boxshall, G.A., Fauchald, K., Gordon, D.P., Hoeksema, B.W., Poore, G.C.B., van Soest, R.W.M., Stöhr, S., Walter, T.C., Costello, M.J. (eds.) (2010) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Available online at http://www.marinespecies.org.
- Grove, J.S. Long, D.J., Robertson, D.R. & Victor, B.C. (2022) List of Fishes of the Galapagos Archipelago, Ecuador. Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, 39, 14–22.
- Grove, J.S. Lavenberg, R.J. (1997) The Fishes of the Galapagos Islands. Stanford University Press, Stanford California. 862 pp.
- Horton, T. Horton, T., Kroh, A., Ahyong, S., Bailly, N., Boyko, C. B., Brandão, S. N., Gofas, S., Hooper, J. N. A., Hernandez, F., Holovachov, O., Mees, J., Molodtsova, T. N., Paulay, G., Decock, W., Dekeyzer, S., Poffyn, G., Vandepitte, L., Vanhoorne, B., Adlard, R., ... Zhao, Z. (2021) World Register of Marine Species. Available from https://www.marinespecies.org at VLIZ.
- Humann, P. Deloach, N. (2003) Reef Fish Identification - Galapagos. New World Publication, Inc. Florida USA & Libri Mundi, Quito, Ecuador, 226 pp.
- IUCN (2023) The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2022-2 Https://www.iucnredlist.org
- McCosker, J.E. Rosenblatt, R.H. (2010) The fishes of the Galápagos Archipelago: an update. Proc. Calif. Acad. Sc., Ser. 4, vol. 61, Suppl. II, no. 11: 167-195.
You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.
This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Chaetodon lunula", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=7745. Accessed 31 October 2026.