Maroon clownfish

Maroon clownfish
Female with body bars almost disappeared, said to be associated with age
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Blenniiformes
Family: Pomacentridae
Subfamily: Amphiprioninae
Genus: Premnas
Cuvier, 1816
Species:
P. biaculeatus
Binomial name
Premnas biaculeatus
(Bloch, 1790)
Synonyms

Chaetodon biaculeatus Bloch, 1790
Holocentrus sonnerat Lacepède, 1802
Lutianus trifasciatus Schneider, 1801
Premnas epigrammata Fowler, 1904
Premnas gibbosus Castelnau, 1875
Premnas semicinctus Cuvier, 1830
Premnas unicolor Cuvier, 1829
Sargus ensifer Gronow, 1854

Premnas biaculeatus, commonly known as spine-cheeked anemonefish or the maroon clownfish, is a species of anemonefish found in the Indo-Pacific from western Indonesia to Taiwan and the Great Barrier Reef.[2] They can grow up to be about 17 cm (6.7 in).[3] Like all anemonefishes it forms a symbiotic mutualism with sea anemones and is unaffected by the stinging tentacles of the host anemone. It is a sequential hermaphrodite with a strict size-based dominance hierarchy; the female is largest, the breeding male is second largest, and the male nonbreeders get progressively smaller as the hierarchy descends.[4] They exhibit protandry, meaning the breeding male changes to female if the sole breeding female dies, with the largest nonbreeder becoming the breeding male.[5] The fish's natural diet includes algae and zooplankton.[3]

  1. ^ Allen, G.R.; Arceo, H.; Mutia, M.T.M.; Muyot, F.B. & Nañola, C.L. & Santos (2022). "Amphiprion biaculeatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T188480A1881366. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-2.RLTS.T188480A1881366.en. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  2. ^ Lieske, E., and R. Myers. 1999. Coral Reef Fishes. ISBN 0-691-02659-9
  3. ^ a b Tristan Lougher (2006). What Fish?: A Buyer's Guide to Marine Fish. Interpet Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84286-118-9.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Buston04 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference FieldGuide was invoked but never defined (see the help page).