It is native to the western Indian Ocean but has reached the Mediterranean Sea as a Lessepsian migrant through the Suez Canal.

[2] A single record was reported in 2011 in the vicinity of Tel Aviv (Israel), a likely migrant from the Red Sea.

They are probably quite close to the subgenus called Citharoedus (that name is a junior homonym of a mollusc genus), which contains for example the scrawled butterflyfish (C. meyeri).

[5][6] The black-tailed butterflyfish is up to 14 cm long and is orange with thin, curved black stripes.

[7] Black-tailed butterflyfishes tend to be found in coral-rich areas between 0.5 and 20 m deep, on seaward reefs or in lagoons or bays.