POMACENTRIDAE


Chromis atripectoralis, 6.7 cm SL
(photo by Richard Winterbottom)


Chromis atripectoralis
Welander and Schultz, 1951
Black-axil Chromis

D XII, 9-10; A II, 9-10; P1 18-20; LLp 15-16.

Body deep and compressed. Posterior margin of preopercle smooth. Suborbital scaled, without visible ventral free edge. Teeth on jaws conical, muliserial; teeth of outermost row larger than those of inner rows. Caudal fin forked; three conspicuous projecting spine-like rays at upper and lower edges of caudal-fin base. Color: head, body and most part of fins bright greenish blue; single or some minute blue dots or short irregular lines on each scales; axil of pectoral fin black. Size: 8.5cm SL. Distribution: Indo- Pacific. Remarks: found around branching corals on coral reefs; forms aggregations; feeds on zooplankton and fish eggs.