Description: A damselfish, small, deep-bodied and laterally compressed, with large eyes and small, strongly protractile mouth with conical teeth. Two spines present on the anal fin. Yellow coloured; the males are sometimes purplish during breeding season.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic, including the Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands. Also reported from west Africa between Senegal and Congo. View Map
Reproduction: Oviparous. Distinct pairing and courtship ritual during breeding. Eggs are demersal and adhere to the substrate. Males guard and aerate the eggs.
Maturity:
Behavioural ecology:
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 5 - 45 m.
Habitat: Reef-associated. Adults inhabit rocky reefs and sand-weed areas.
Feeding habits: Feeds on planktonic animals and small benthic invertebrates.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.4
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Commercial species.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety: Health warning: damselfishes have extra bones among the flesh which may get lodged in the oesophagus, hence it is advisable to be careful when eating them.
REFERENCES
Carpenter K.E., ed. (2002). The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. FAO, Rome, pp. 1375-2127.
González J., Hernández C., Marrero P., Rapp E. (2000). Peces de Canarias: GuÃa Submarina (5th edition). Francisco Lemus Editor, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias, Spain, 235 pp.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Kim H.U., Song H.J. (2012). Clinical characteristics of an oesophageal fish bone foreign body from Chromis notata. Journal of Korean Medican Science, 27(10): 1208-1214.
Morato T., Afonso P., Lourinho P., Barreiros J.P., Santos R.S., Nash R.D.M. (2001). Length–weight relationships for 21 coastal fish species of the Azores, north-eastern Atlantic. Fisheries Research, 50(3): 297-302.
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
Wood E.M. (1977). A review of damsel fishes (Pisces: Pomacentridae) of the genus Chromis from the central and eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Journal of Fish Biology, 10(4), 331-345.
