Animal Species:Speckled Damsel, Pomacentrus bankanensis Bleeker, 1853

The Speckled Damsel is brown with blue spots on the scale centres. The species occurs primarily in tropical marine waters of the Western Pacific.

Alternative Name/s

Fire Damsel, Speckled Damselfish

Identification

The Speckled Damsel is brown with blue spots on the scale centres. It has bright blue lines on the head, one of which runs along the dorsal midline. There is an ocellus on the dorsal fin rays. The caudal fin is white.

Size range

The species grows to 10 cm in length.

Distribution

The species occurs primarily in tropical marine waters of the Western Pacific. In Australia it is found off north-western Western Australia and from the northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland south to the central coast of New South Wales.

The map below shows the Australian distribution of the species based on public sightings and specimens in Australian Museums. Click on the map for detailed information.  Source: Atlas of Living Australia.

Pomacentrus bankanensis

Distribution by collection data

Ozcam map of Speckled Damsel specimens in the Australian Museum.

What does this mean?

Classification

Species:
bankanensis
Genus:
Pomacentrus
Family:
Pomacentridae
Order:
Perciformes
Class:
Actinopterygii
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Phylum:
Chordata
Kingdom:
Animalia

What does this mean?

References

  1. Allen, G.R. 1991. Damselfishes of the World. Mergus. Pp.271.
  2. Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & G.R. Allen. 2006. Fishes. In Beesley, P.L. & A. Wells. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 35. ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Australia. parts 1-3, pages 1-2178.
  3. Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
  4. Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Gary Allen. Pp. 437.
  5. Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.


Mark McGrouther , Collection Manager, Ichthyology
Last Updated:

Tags Fishes, Ichthyology, Speckled Damsel, Pomacentrus bankanensis, Pomacentridae, brown, blue, white, < 10 cm, dots/spots, marine,