Chaetodon wiebeli

Chaetodon wiebeli has an oval shaped, deep and strongly compressed body with a head which is the same height as its width and a short snout with a small protractile mouth equipped with setiform teeth in its jaws.[3] These teeth are referred to in the genus name Chaetodon which means "bristle tooth".[4] It has a smooth preopercle which does not have any obvious spines.[3] The colouration is mainly yellow marked with oblique brown lines. There is a vertical black band running through the eye, with a white bar to its rear, and a black blotch on the forehead. The dorsal, anal, pelvic and caudal fins are yellow, although the caudal fin has a black margin.[5] The dorsal fin contains a total of 12–13 spines and 22–25 soft rays while the anal fin has 3 spines and 18–20 soft rays. This species attains a maximum total length of 19 centimetres (7.5 in).[2]

Chaetodon wiebeli is found in the western Pacific Ocean from southern Japan and South Korea to northern Java, extending into the Gulf of Thailand.[1]

Chaetodon wiebeli is found in both rocky and coral reefs, where they are normally encountered in pairs and in small shoals.[2] They feed on coral polyps, benthic invertebrates and algae.[5] This is an oviparous species which forms pairs during breeding.[2] They may be solitary and their main feeding technique is grazing algae off rocks.[1] They can ben found at depths of 4 to 25 metres (13 to 82 ft).[3]

Chaetodon wiebeli was first formally described in 1863 by the German ichthyologist Johann Jakob Kaup (1803–1873) with the type locality given as Canton in China.[6] The specific name honours Kaup's friend, the naturalist and one of the founders of the Zoological Museum in Hamburg, Karl Maximilian Wiebel (1808–1888).[4] It belongs to the large subgenus Rabdophorus which might warrant recognition as a distinct genus.[7]