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Narrow-Banded Sergeant Major
Abudefduf bengalensis (Bloch, 1787)

A Narrow-Banded Sergeant Major at a depth of 1m, Shiprock, Port Hacking, New South Wales, January 2002. View larger image.

The Narrow-Banded Sergeant Major is white with six or seven black bands on the body. It has rounded caudal fin lobes.

This species grows to 18cm in length.

It typically inhabits inshore coral reefs and protected lagoons at depths between 0.5m and 8m.

The Narrow-Banded Sergeant Major is often seen as solitary individuals or in small groups feeding on algae, gastropods and small crabs. Males are territorial.

It occurs in tropical marine waters of the Indo-West Pacific, including Pakistan, India, Indonesia, New Guinea, north to the Philippines, south to Australia and east to Vanuatu.

In Australia it is known from the north-western coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north and down the east coast to central New South Wales.

View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.

Further reading

1. Allen, G.R. 1975. Damselfishes of the South Seas. TFH Publications. Pp. 237.
2. Allen, G.R. 1991. Damselfishes of the World. Mergus. Pp. 271.
3. Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 220.
4. Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 251.