Cephalopholis fulva, the coney or the butterfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a grouper from the subfamily Epinephelinae which is in the family Serranidae which also includes the anthias and sea basses.

Cephalopholis fulva has an oblong-shaped, robust body with a snout that is longer than the diameter of the eye.

[4] The dorsal profile is flat to convex between the eyes and the posterior end of the upper mandible is exposed when the mouth is closed forming a bony knob.

The bicoloured phase is the normal red or brownish orange above a line which runs from the tip of the snout to the rear rays of the dorsal fin and pale below this.

In the red and bicoloured morphs, there is a patterning of small blue spots with dark margins which covers the head and body.

There are two small black spots on top of caudal peduncle and another two at tip of lower jaw which are present in all three colour morphs.

At night they generally adopt a pale colouration with irregular vertical bars and a dark forked line between the eyes.

It also occurs throughout the Caribbean Sea and along the northern coast of South America, with a gap in the region of the Amazon Delta, to southern Brazil, It is also found around the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, St. Paul's Rocks and Trindade Island.

[1] Cephalopholis fulva is a small species which means that it is of little interest to commercial fisheries although it appears in markets throughout the West Indies where it is caught by hook and line and traps.