Longnose Butterflyfish Colouring

Meet this cheerful longnose butterflyfish, a tropical reef explorer with an amazingly long, narrow snout that helps it reach tiny food hiding between rocks and coral. Its tall oval body, broad diagonal bands, flowing upper and lower fins, rear oval marking and rounded tail create large, clear spaces that are fun for young artists to colour. A classic longnose butterflyfish can be bright lemon yellow with a dark eye band and a pale mouth and chest. Try yellow or golden orange on the main body, then colour the broad bands in alternating shades of yellow, orange, cream or light blue. Make the eye band dark brown, navy or black while leaving the small eye highlight white. The oval marking near the rear fin can be deep blue, purple or black, and the long snout can fade from pale cream near the tip to yellow near the face. Use long curved strokes across the body bands and short radiating strokes inside the fins and tail. Add a slightly darker shade along the outer fin edges while keeping the centres bright. Colour the seaweed green or teal, the coral peach, pink or red, and the sand warm beige. The rocks can be grey, tan or lavender, and the bubbles pale blue with white highlights. Work slowly around the narrow snout and small mouth. This curious fish is ready to search a colourful reef with its special nose.

◫ A4 size✎ Bold outlines♡ Ages 3–8

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Grown-up note: Please supervise printing and choose age-appropriate art materials.