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Mailed butterflyfish

species of fish

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Science and natureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ2064065 ↗
Source-derived summary

The mailed butterflyfish (Chaetodon reticulatus), also known as the reticulated butterflyfish or black butterflyfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a butterflyfish belonging to the family Chaetodontidae, This species is found on reefs in the central and western Pacific Ocean. It can be found in the aquarium trade.

Description

The mailed butterflyfish is a relatively dull-coloured species of butterflyfish and it has a mainly blackish body with light grey centres to the scales and a pale back. It has a broad vertical band with yellow edges which runs through the eye with a broad, white vertical band behind that. The dorsal fin is white, the anal fin. The caudal peduncle is black, while the caudal fin is whitish blue with a yellow band on the margin which itself has a black submargin. The tail of juveniles is transparent. The dorsal fin has 12-13 spines and 23-29 soft rays, while the anal fin has 3 spines and 20-22 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 18 centimetres (7.1 in).

Distribution

The mailed butterflyfish has a wide distribution in the western central Pacific, and it is found from Taiwan and the Philippines through Polynesia as far as Hawaii, the Marquesas Islands and the Pitcairn Islands.

Editorial summary

“Mailed butterflyfish” enters the record as species of fish. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Mailed, butterflyfish and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA sound reference starting point where classification, measurement and the date of the underlying evidence remain visible. The current 207-word lead offers orientation but no explicit four-digit date, so chronology should not be assumed. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Mailed, butterflyfish and species.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Mailed butterflyfish” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Mailed, butterflyfish and species provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2064065. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.

Critical limits

Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.

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  • Classification context
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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Mailed butterflyfish”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Mailed butterflyfish primary sources, Mailed butterflyfish archive and Mailed research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
  3. Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Mailed butterflyfish” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.