Where Black butterflyfish has been recorded
GBIF occurrence records for Chaetodon flavirostris, mapped and tabulated by country.
3,286 georeferenced occurrence records with coordinates are published for Chaetodon flavirostris through GBIF, from 17 countries or marine areas. This page maps those records and lists where they come from. Occurrence records reflect where people have looked as well as where the species lives, so well-surveyed coastlines are over-represented.
- Georeferenced records
- 3,286
- Countries / areas
- 17
- Mapped locations
- 144
- Records sampled for the map
- 3,000
- Inland records omitted
- 23
- Gbif taxonkey
- 2385545
Countries and areas with the most records (GBIF)
Australia — 2,488 records; New Caledonia — 451 records; Tonga — 120 records; Norfolk Island — 109 records; French Polynesia — 79 records; Fiji — 10 records; Cook Islands — 7 records; American Samoa — 4 records; Vanuatu — 4 records; Viet Nam — 3 records; Wallis and Futuna — 3 records; Kiribati — 2 records; Niue — 2 records; Micronesia (Federated States of) — 1 records; Philippines — 1 records.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2385545) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2385545&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY). Accessed 2026-09-23.
How to read this map
The map plots a sample of 3,000 of the 3,286 records, deduplicated to a half-degree grid, so dense areas do not merge into one blob. The sample covers 15 of the 17 countries or areas with records; the areas absent from the sample hold 4 records in total (Wallis and Futuna, Philippines).
23 records plotting inland were omitted: for a marine species those are almost always the holding institution's coordinates rather than a collection site.
Records show where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2385545) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2385545&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=273337 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many georeferenced records exist for Black butterflyfish?
GBIF currently holds 3,286 coordinate-based occurrence records for Chaetodon flavirostris, drawn from 17 countries or marine areas. These records are consolidated into 144 distinct mapped locations on the distribution page.
Why do some coastlines show far more Black butterflyfish records than others?
The density of records largely mirrors how thoroughly a region has been surveyed rather than the fish's true range. Well-studied coastlines naturally accumulate more sightings, so they appear over-represented in the data.
How many records are actually plotted on the Black butterflyfish distribution map?
The map displays a sample of 3,000 records out of the full 3,286 available in GBIF. This subset was chosen to keep the visualization readable while still representing the species' broad Indo-Pacific range.
Were any Black butterflyfish records excluded from the distribution page?
Yes—23 inland records that likely represent data-entry errors or misidentified specimens were dropped from the mapping. Only marine and coastal occurrences are shown to keep the distribution accurate.
Where can I find the raw Black butterflyfish occurrence data?
All 3,286 georeferenced records are publicly accessible through the GBIF portal under taxon key 2385545. The fan-encyclopedia page simply re-maps and tabulates that same dataset by country for easier browsing.
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