Chaetodon melapterus has an almost totally bright yellow body except for the posterior edge which is black.

[1] Chaetodon melapterus is found in shallow coastal reefs where it prefers areas with rich coral growth.

[1] Chaetodon melapterus was first formally described in 1863 by the French zoologist Alphonse Guichenot with the type locality given as Réunion,[4] although this is likely to be in error as the species has not been recorded from the Mascarenes.

This group is probably quite closely related to the subgenus "Citharoedus" (the name is a junior homonym of a mollusc genus), which contains the scrawled butterflyfish (C. meyeri).

[5][6] Chaetodon melapterus is unsuitable for keeping in aquaria because of its specialised diet of coral.