Fishes include some of the most visually striking vertebrate radiations and have repeatedly evolved bold color patterns, including bars, stripes, and spots. Such strong color patterns are hypothesized to provide multiple functions, including avoiding predation by obscuring recognizable features and communicating with others to secure territory and mates. Despite increasing interest in the function of these color patterns, our current understanding of the evolution of these patterns remains limited. Specifically, the macroevolutionary dynamics remain under explored and consequently we lack an understanding of how evolutionary history influences color patterns and whether color pattern elements coevolve. To address these questions, we examine the evolutionary lability of color pattern types and quantify potential coevolutionary relationships between pattern elements across 6000+ teleost fishes. In addition, we test the long-held assumption that reef fishes are more patterned than their non reef-dwelling marine relatives. We scored species for the presence of color pattern elements (e.g. eye stripe, body spot) using photographs of museum specimens cross-referenced with live photos when necessary. We then applied evolutionary models to estimate pattern element lability and test for the coevolution of pattern elements using a phylogenetic comparative framework. Our preliminary results indicate that patterns with multiple bars evolve more frequently than those with a single bar and conversely, patterns with multiple stripes evolve less often than single stripe patterns. We therefore conclude that bar and stripe elements have different tempos and perhaps even modes of evolution, suggesting that, over macroevolutionary timescales some pattern elements are more easily changed than others.