The most beautiful fish while snorkling

[kouma]

Hello,

Yesterday I saw the most beautiful saltwater angel/butterfly while snorkeling on the reefs of Khasab rocky area in Oman. My heart literally skipped a beat. I would appreciate it if someone can ID this fish from my humble description. 1- I looks like it is either an angel or a butterfly, 2- they swims in pairs, 3- its overall color is a beautiful orange/yellow (the same on the blue face) on black, with two black lines on the head, 4- their size was 1 ft in length.

I also saw many maculosus angel fish (maybe 2-3ft in length), blue parrot fish also 2-3ft, bicolor gobys, clark clowns, brains, polps, sponges, and many other beautiful animals. I wish i had an underwater camera

Cheers!

 

[kouma]

after 1.5 hours of googling, i finally found it!! can someone ID this.

 

[seafansar]

Wow! I have no clue on the ID, but those are beautiful!

 

[Frankie]

They look like adult Japanese Masked Butterfly fish. (Chaetodon wiebli)
Very rare and beautiful.

 

[lcstorc]

Gorgeous

 

[michael_cb_125]

Very pretty fish.

They are Chaetodon melapterus (Arabian Butterflyfish)

They are one of my favorite butterflyfish. But they are almost impossible to keep in our tanks. These fish are obligate coralivores, and must have the polyps of acropora corals to survive.

~Michael

 

[kouma]

Very pretty fish.

They are Chaetodon melapterus (Arabian Butterflyfish)

They are one of my favorite butterflyfish. But they are almost impossible to keep in our tanks. These fish are obligate coralivores, and must have the polyps of acropora corals to survive.

~Michael

THANKS MICHAEL. That's the one!! Now that I know the name i can find countless pictures on the net. Ohh so beautiful, check the below pic. Too bad they don't survive in fish tanks. Do they eat sponges?

 

[michael_cb_125]

They are obligate coralivores meaning that in order to survive they must consume coral (sps) polyps. They will occasionally eat an algae frond, sponge, or worm but in general they consume only SPS coral polyps.

~Michael

 

[Frankie]

Very pretty fish.

They are Chaetodon melapterus (Arabian Butterflyfish)

They are one of my favorite butterflyfish. But they are almost impossible to keep in our tanks. These fish are obligate coralivores, and must have the polyps of acropora corals to survive.

~Michael

Nice ID Michael! I thought I might be wrong with this one.