Atlantic Sergeant Major
Abudefduf saxatilis
Lemon damsel
Pomacentrus moluccensis
About
A small, glowing-yellow damselfish that darts between the branches of coral it calls home, the lemon damsel grows to only about 9 cm.
Also known as: molucca damsel, molucca demoiselle, yellow damsel, yellow damsel, molucca demoiselle, molucca damsel, yellow damselfish, lemon fish damsel, damselfish, lemon damselfish, lemon damselfish, yellow damselfish, yellow damsel-fish
- Length
- 9 cm
- Depth
- up to 14 m
How to tell it apart
Several small reef fish are plain yellow, but the tiny orange fleck at the base of the pectoral fin (missing in fish from the Philippines) confirms this species.
Appearance
The body is deep and flattened side to side, coloured a uniform bright yellow all over. There is a small orange spot at the base of the pectoral fin, though fish from the Philippines lack it. The head is slightly longer than it is high, with a large eye and an angled mouth, and the tail fin is shallowly forked with rounded lobes.
Habitat
It lives in clear lagoons and on reefs across the tropical western Pacific, sheltering among branching corals down to about 14 m, usually in small groups.
Did you know?
Because it depends so closely on branching coral for shelter, its numbers have been shown to drop sharply after coral bleaching events.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
