Butterfly fishes look like smaller versions of angelfish, but unlike Angels, they lack preopercle spines at the gill covers. Butterfly fishes mostly range from 12 to 22 cm (4.7 to 8.7 in) in length. They are the brightly colored and strikingly patterned bodies of many species, bearing shades of black, white, blue, red, orange, and yellow. Other species are dull in colour.