POMACENTRIDAE


Stegastes punctatus, 6.2 cm SL
(photo by Richard Winterbottom)


Stegastes punctatus
(Bleeker, 1877)
Bluntsnout Gregory

D XII, 14-16; A II, 12-14; P1 18-19; LLp 17-19.

Body ovate, compressed. Posterior margin of preopercle serrate. Suborbital scaled, with serrate ventral margin. Snout long, distance between eye and ventralmost of preorbital bone greater than eye diameter. Teeth on jaws uniserial, incisor-like. Caudal fin deeply emarginate; no conspicuous projecting spine-like rays at upper and lower edges of caudal-fin base. Color: head and body blackish brown or dark olive brown, darkened dorsally; each scale with paler center; a distinct black spot, edged anteroventrally with sky or pale, at posterior part of dorsal fin in specimens from Indian Ocean and Andaman Sea. Size: 13.0 cm SL. Distribution: Indo-West Pacific. Remarks: found in coral reef lagoons.