''Plectroglyphidodon dickii'', common name blackbar devil, Dick's damsel or narrowbar damselfish, is a species of

damselfish Damselfish are those within the subfamilies Abudefdufinae, Chrominae, Lepidozyginae, Pomacentrinae, and Stegastenae within the family Pomacentridae. Most species within this group are relatively small, with the largest species being about 30 ...

in the family

Pomacentridae Pomacentridae is a family of ray-finned fish, comprising the damselfishes and clownfishes. This family were formerly placed in the order Perciformes but are now regarded as being ''incertae sedis'' in the subseries Ovalentaria in the clade ...

. This species was formerly classified as ''

Dascyllus aruanus ''Dascyllus aruanus'', known commonly as the whitetail dascyllus or humbug damselfish among other vernacular names, is a species of marine fish in the Family (biology), family Pomacentridae. Description Whitetail dascyllus is up to in length bu ...

'', but recently the populations of western Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean have been split off.

Etymology

The genus epithet ''Plectroglyphidodon'' derives from the Greek words (meaning = ''anything to strike with, spur''), plus the suffixes (mening ''carved'') and (meaning ''teeth'').

Distribution

This species is present in the Indo-Pacific, from

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the histori ...

to the

Line Islands The Line Islands, Teraina Islands or Equatorial Islands (in Gilbertese, ''Aono Raina'') are a chain of 11 atolls (with partly or fully enclosed lagoons) and coral islands (with a surrounding reef) in the central Pacific Ocean, south of the Haw ...

and

Tuamotu The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extendin ...

, north to Japan, south to Australia and east to

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = "Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of French ...

Habitat

These tropical marine reef-associated damselfishes occur in shallow coral reefs, especially with branching corals, in areas of high wave action, in clear waters lagoons and seaward reefs, at depths of 1 to 15 m. They are commonly present with

Pocillopora ''Pocillopora'' is a genus of stony corals in the family Pocilloporidae occurring in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.Veron, J.E.N. (2000) Corals of the World. Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townville, Australia. They are commonly called c ...

Acropora ''Acropora'' is a genus of small polyp stony coral in the phylum Cnidaria. Some of its species are known as table coral, elkhorn coral, and staghorn coral. Over 149 species are described. ''Acropora'' species are some of the major reef corals r ...

corals.WoRMS – World Register of Marine Species
/ref>

Description

''Plectroglyphidodon dickii'' can reach a body length of about . These damselfishes have a compact and stocky body, with 12 dorsal spines, 16-18 dorsal soft rays, 2 anal spines and 14-16 anal soft rays.
/ref> The background coloring is mainly light brown with very visible scales and a small vertical black bar crossing the rear of the body, just ahead of the caudal area. The eyes show light blue rings and light purple markings. The dorsal, pectoral and pelvic fins are yellow orange or light brown, while the caudal fin is white, more rarely orange, with a transparent blue shaded fringe on the rear. The operculum sometimes shows a purplish tinge. Also the caudal peduncle can be white or orange.Australian Museum
/ref> Sea Unseen
/ref>

Biology

These damselfishes usually live in groups, but they are often encountered as solitary and highly territorial individuals. They commonly feed on filamentous algae, benthic small invertebrates and sometimes on small fishes. They are

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), a ...

. Eggs are demersal and adhere to the substrate, always protected and aerated by the male.

Bibliography

*Allen, G.R. 1975. Damselfishes of the South Seas. TFH Publications. Pp. 237. *Allen, G.R. 1991. Damselfishes of the World. Mergus. Pp. 271. *Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 220. *Baissac, J. de B. (1990) SWIOP/WP/54 - Checklist of the marine fishes of Mauritius., RAF/87/008/WP/54/90 Regional Project for the Development & Management of Fisheries in the Southwest Indian Ocean *Hiatt, R.W. and D.W. Strasburg (1960) Ecological relationships of the fish fauna on coral reefs of the Marshall Islands., Ecol. Monogr. 30(1):65-127. *Myers, R.F. 1999. Micronesian Reef Fishes. Coral Graphics. Pp. 330. *Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 251. *Rau, N. and A. Rau (1980) Commercial marine fishes of the Central Philippines (bony fish)., German Agency for Technical Cooperation, Germany. 623 pp.

References

External links

Natürliches Vorkommen

Sous Les Mer
{{Taxonbar, from=Q941180 dickii Fish described in 1839