This fish is rare at sport diving depths at Kwajalein. All specimens have been observed on the steep seaward dropoff, usually deeper than 50m. This is one of a group of similar species that live in deeper water and share the white-spotted forward and lower portion of the body and the more solid color (usually black) upper rear half of the body from near the front of the dorsal spines to the rear of the anal fin below the tail. Chaetodon tinkeri lacks the black bar on the "forehead" behind the eye. In C. flavocoronatus, the bar behind the eye is yellow. C. declivis, like C. tinkeri, lacks the forehead bar but is more orange-yellow in the upper rear. But in some areas, these species seem to intergrade. Even the few individuals we have seen here have been quite variable and do not exactly match typical Chaetodon burgessi as originally described. Photos of C. burgessi from other areas show a fish much like the first photo below, except that the bar that passes through the eye is black, not orange. Also, the black bar over the forehead behind the eye is all black in typical C. burgessi, not with the bits of orange around the edges. Then, in the second photo below, the black bar behind the eye is nearly gone. If C. burgessi can vary this much in the few specimens we have seen, it seems likely that some individuals may lack the forehead bar altogether, which would make them essentially identical to Hawaiian Chaetodon tinkeri.
The Chaetodon burgessi below is under an overhang on the steep seaward slope.
Created 15 October 2010
Updated 13 November 2020