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Scissortail Sergeant
Abudefduf sexfasciatus (Lacepède, 1801)
A Scissortail Sergeant at a depth of 10m, Mantis Reef, Wreck Bay, far northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, November 2001. View larger image.
The Scissortail Sergeant is white with five black bands on the body. It has a dark longitudinal stripe on both lobes of the caudal fin.
This species grows to 22cm in length.
The Scissortail Sergeant typically inhabits inshore and offshore coral and rocky reefs. It is found in depths of 1m to 15m.
This fish is often seen in large aggregations well above the bottom. It feeds on algae and zooplankton.
The Scissortail Sergeant occurs in tropical and temperate marine waters of the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea, north to Japan, south to Australia and east to the Tuamoto Islands.
In Australia it is known from the north-western coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north and down the east coast to southern New South Wales. It is also known from Lord Howe Island.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Allen, G.R. 1975. Damselfishes of the South Seas. TFH Publications. Pp. 237.
- Allen, G.R. 1991. Damselfishes of the World. Mergus. Pp. 271.
- Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 220.
- Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 251.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2006
Page researched and compiled by
K. Parkinson & M. McGrouther, September 2003.
