Chaetodon nigropunctatus

Chaetodon nigropunctatus has a whitish mouth set in a grey face, the colour of the body is greyish white and it is marked with many longitudinal rows of dark grey spots. The tail is black with a white margin.^[4] The dorsal fin has 13 spines and 21-23 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 18-20 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 14 centimetres (5.5 in).^[3]

Chaetodon nigropunctatus is found in the northwestern Indian Ocean. It occurs in the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea coast of the Arabian Peninsula.^[1]

Chaetodon nigropunctatus occurs at depths between 1 and 40 metres (3.3 and 131.2 ft),^[1] inhabiting coral reefs where they occur in pairs. They are thought to feed mainly on coral polyps.^[3] it occurs over reefs, either of coral or rock, and sometime in Sandy lagoon areas.^[1]

Chaetodon nigropunctatus was first formally described in 1880 by the French paleontologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist Henri Émile Sauvage (1842-1917) with the type locality was given as Oman.^[5] It belongs to the large subgenus Rabdophorus which might warrant recognition as a distinct genus.^[6]

Chaetodon nigropunctatus is rare in the aquarium trade.^[1] However, it is a difficult species to keep in captivity due to its specialised diet of live coral polyps.^[4]